My Girl
by The-Lady-Isis
Summary: A trinity love triangle with a twist. Diana has visions that shake the foundation of the League and her closest friendships, but will they bring she and Bruce closer, or simply push them irrevocably apart? NO SM/WW! I don't own anything.
1. Prologue

**A/N: Thank yous go to Angel Queen and my lovely beta for this story, Daisy Jane :) **

**This is going to be told from the point of view of both Diana and a young woman named Elizabeth. I haven't included any bits from Bruce's point of view because I wanted to set myself a challenge - Diana's trickier for me. So if you think there's something I've gotten wrong, or something about her character that I should include, please let me know in your review. **

**Enjoy! **

**Prologue **

_At the disgruntled sound his wife issued, Bruce looked up to see a gently mocking smile on Diana's face. "If I'd known I was going to have to fight for your attention this hard I don't think we'd have had children for another decade." _

_He smiled, but inevitably his gaze turned to the baby again. "Sorry. But she's-" _

"_Beautiful, I know," she smiled from the pilot's seat. "I keep looking at her to make sure she's real." _

_Elizabeth chose that moment to remind them she was real by gurgling in a most adorable way and then by grasping her father's thumb tightly. He didn't wince. "I don't think she has your strength, though." _

"_Thank Hera for that," she smiled. "Having my powers would only put her in danger." _

_He nodded, holding his daughter's hand a little tighter. She was strapped into a custom-made safety seat that he'd designed especially to fit inside Diana's jet when it became apparent that Hippolyta wasn't coming to Man's World to see her granddaughter. It would withstand temperature extremes of two hundred degrees in either direction, and in the event of a crash would wrap the baby in a bubble of impact gel that it would take _Superman _to get into. _

"_It's not all that surprising," he commented. "Your powers aren't genetic."_

"_True." Her smiled faded. "We'll keep her safe, won't we, Bruce?" _

_He nodded seriously. "From anything." _

'_From anything' happened far sooner than either of them had wanted. _

_Suddenly, the invisible jet lurched. Both heroes looked up, seeing a thunderstorm literally appear out of nowhere. There was a flash of illumination, as a lightning bolt seemed to be jumping from the sky directly at their plane. When it hit, the aircraft rocked. The restraints kept them all from being tossed about the cockpit like limp dolls, and Bruce had made sure that nothing on earth or in heaven would move Elizabeth's seat. _

_Despite her wrenching her neck a few seconds ago, Diana pushed the pain aside and focused on keeping the plane on course. They were heading to Metropolis - and it was so close, she could see the Metro Tower if she squinted. And with the lives of her husband and daughter in the balance, it wasn't something she was going to fail at. _

_Forcing panic down, she tried to address the shrilly-blaring alarms coming from the console. "We've lost main power!" she shouted. "Switching to auxiliary."_

_As if it could hear her, the storm above them struck again, and the auxiliary power console exploded in a fizzle of sparks. _

_When Elizabeth started crying, Bruce could barely hear her. He heard Diana though, with terrifying clarity, when she turned to him and said with dreadful serenity, "We're going to crash." _

_

* * *

_

I woke up with a scream.

When Dad burst into the room, I wasn't shocked; I knew he'd heard my cry, and likely my harsh breathing before that. "Liz?"

I turned on the light on my nightstand. "I'm alright, Dad," I said shakily.

He relaxed only marginally. "Yeah, I'm not buying it." He sat down on the edge of my bed, and brushed a strand of hair off my sweaty forehead. "What's wrong?"

"Nightmare," I confessed.

"What about?" he asked.

I frowned; like most dreams, the details were draining away like water. The more I tried to hang onto them, the more they slipped away. "Can't remember. Something about...a plane crash?" I shrugged. As normal, now that Dad was here I felt much better.

Dad's frown, however, hadn't gone away. In fact he looked pale. "Daddy, are you okay?"

He nodded too quickly. "Course I am."

I nudged him. "Hey. I'm not buying it."

He smiled. "Honestly, Lizzie, I'm okay."

I nodded. "Good."

He smiled and kissed my forehead. "Try and get some sleep, huh? And no more nightmares."

"I'll try."

"Just tell the bad dreams I'll come beat them up," he winked.

I rolled my eyes, but grinned anyway. I felt much better as I lay back down to sleep. There were some perks to having Superman as a father.

* * *

**A/N: Review please! **


	2. Chapter One

**A/N: Thank you for the reviews! I hope this clears things up a little bit. **

**Chapter One**

_At the disgruntled sound his wife issued, Bruce looked up to see a gently mocking smile on Diana's face. "If I'd known I was going to have to fight for your attention this hard I don't think we'd have children for another decade." _

_He smiled, but inevitably his gaze turned to the baby again. "Sorry. But she's-" _

"_Beautiful, I know," she smiled from the pilot's seat. "I keep looking at her to make sure she's real." _

_Elizabeth chose that moment to remind them she was real by gurgling in a most adorable way and then grasping her father's thumb tightly. He didn't wince. "I don't think she has your strength, though." _

"_Thank Hera for that," she smiled. "Having my powers would only put her in danger." _

_He nodded, holding his daughter's hand a little tighter. She was strapped into a custom-made safety seat that he'd designed especially to fit inside Diana's jet when it became apparent that Hippolyta wasn't coming to Man's World to see her granddaughter. It would withstand temperature extremes of two hundred degrees in either direction, and in the event of a crash would wrap the baby in a bubble of impact gel that it would take _Superman _to get into._

"_It's not all that surprising. Your powers aren't genetic."_

"_True." Her smiled faded. "We'll keep her safe, won't we, Bruce?" _

_He nodded seriously. "From anything." _

'_From anything' happened far sooner than either of them had wanted. _

_Suddenly, the invisible jet lurched. Both heroes looked up, seeing a thunderstorm literally appear out of nowhere. There was a flash of illumination, as a lightning bolt seemed to be jumping from the sky directly at their plane. When it hit, the aircraft rocked. The restraints kept them all from being tossed about the cockpit like limp dolls, and Bruce had made sure that nothing on earth or in heaven would move Elizabeth's seat._

_Despite her wrenching her neck a few seconds ago, Diana pushed the pain aside and focused on keeping the plane on course. They were heading to Metropolis - and it was so close, she could see the Metro Tower if she squinted. And with the lives of her husband and daughter in the balance, it wasn't something she was going to fail at. _

_Forcing panic down, she tried to address the shrilly-blaring alarms coming from the console. "We've lost main power!" she shouted. "Switching to auxiliary."_

_As if it could hear her, the storm above them struck again, and the auxiliary power console exploded in a fizzle of sparks. _

_When Elizabeth started crying, Bruce could barely hear her. He heard Diana though, with terrifying clarity, when she turned to him and said with dreadful serenity. "We're going to crash."_

* * *

I woke up with a scream.

I bolted up in bed, one hand scrabbling at my chest. My heart was pounding, and so it should have been - they were gone, they were both gone-

Wait. Stop. Calm down. I was in my room, in the Watchtower. No plane crash. No dead husband. No dead daughter. No daughter or husband at all. They weren't exactly unusual things to dream about - it wasn't as though I'd never dreamt of Bruce in that capacity before. Sometimes we did have children. But those children were always symbolic of my regrets. A bittersweet shot of what I could have. They never had names. They always disappeared as soon as I try to put them in Bruce's arms.

Not this child. In the dream he'd been the one touching the child - Elizabeth? – and he'd designed the seat to protect her from danger.

And we'd crashed. Hera, I could still smell burning wires, I could still hear Elizabeth crying - was it actually possible that that had been false? My mind told me it had to be. My heart was screaming that it had happened. Suddenly I couldn't help but listen, and felt my fear grow. I needed to see them. I needed to hold my family in my arms and whisper that I loved them-

I threw back the covers, and then dressed quickly, heading out of my room and praying that Batman would be on the Watchtower somewhere.

He was - in one of the private computer rooms, with the doors locked and working on something that was closed down as soon as I opened the door with my override. Whatever admonition he was going to give me went unused; I grabbed his upper arms and literally shook him, demanding with wide eyes, "Where's Elizabeth?"

He looked at me as though I'd lost my mind, and he wasn't answering. By the gods, had I got it wrong? Was Bruce all right and it was only our little girl who wasn't-

"Diana, what? Who's Elizabeth?"

"The baby, Bruce, where is she?"

His own hands grasped my arms. "What baby? Diana, what are you talking about?"

It took a few more seconds of staring at him, but eventually I felt my mind begin to calm, my thoughts settle into some kind of recognizable order. I took a deep breath. No daughter. Never had a daughter. Never been married.

I let go of him and took a step back. I couldn't say anything else - what could I say even if my vocal chords had been working? I backed away and headed toward the door. Bruce's hand on my arm stopped me. "Diana - what's wrong?"

"I-" Hera, this was going to sound ridiculous. "I had a nightmare, and - I guess it freaked me out." This is what I got for yet again letting my emotions overrule my brain. He was going to think that I was a complete idiot and, worse, a weak female distraught over a stupid dream.

I could feel the raised eyebrow behind his cowl. "A nightmare?"

I nodded. "Yes. Bad one."

"Concerning a baby, but you don't know who's baby or-"

I interrupted; I knew exactly who's child she'd been, and I wasn't about to tell Bruce that. He already was looking at me as though I was crazy, I didn't need to give him an excuse to give me that exasperated sigh and reiterate his stupid reasons against us dating. "No. And I get it, I was being silly."

"Diana-"

I cleared my throat, realizing two things; I was still tired, and I had no idea what time it was. A quick look at the clock confirmed that going back to bed was a reasonable excuse to escape the room, so I mumbled something to that effect and almost fled the room.

"Princess-"

The doors hissed shut behind me, and I breathed a sigh of relief. I went back to my room, but the bed looked cold and lonely. It was almost four am, so I decided to shower and then head to the commissary for an early breakfast.

I'd only gotten to the shampooing of my hair when a wave of dizziness crashed over me - then the darkness swarmed in from the edges of my vision. I saw the floor come rushing up to meet me. I didn't feel myself hit it.

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**A/N: Review please!**


	3. Chapter Two

**A/N: Thank you for the reviews! And thank you to the great Daisy Jane :)**

**Chapter Two**

_It was dark. Dank. Dripping. But wait, the moisture dropping onto Elizabeth's face was warm. And it didn't stop on her face. The droplets trickled down the baby's arms and legs, soothing the burning pain in her squalling limbs. She was in the arms of a woman, a woman she didn't recognize. The woman was beautiful. The baby didn't feel afraid. The woman was crying, but smiling. She could have been Elizabeth's mother, but equally she could have been anyone's mother. _

_She lifted the child up so that she could see what the woman was looking at. Elizabeth's head turned away as if in pain from the twisted image of Snow White in front of her. _

_  
Two people were trapped in coffins that looked like frosted diamonds. The baby's eyesight wasn't good enough yet - if it were she would've seen in one was a woman with long, dark hair. In the other...his face was covered, either by ice or some kind of mask. _

_The woman holding her whispered. Her voice was soothing - something the child needed, because the sight of these two people made her cry._

"_Have no fear, dear child. You will be safe. You will be loved. You will be protected until you come of age. And they will wait for you." _

_  
The woman in the icebox snapped awake. It looked like she was going to scream, but all that issued from her mouth was, "Beep, beep, beep, beep..." _

---

_Beep, beep, beep, beep._

I'd never been grateful that my alarm had gone off until this morning. That had been one creepy dream - and I was pretty sure I'd never been in a cave as a baby. I shivered. _Not going to be watching any Disney movies for a while...never realized how creepy they are._

I had to be in class, and Dad at work at the same time, so our alarms went off in the morning at the same time. But Dad 'hadn't heard' his alarm. It seemed the selective deafness that most men seemed to employ went for superhearing as well. I chuckled softly at the sound of his snores through the wall. Lazy. Not an adjective most Metropolis citizens would use to describe their city's hero.

It wasn't until after I'd showered and dressed, and then made breakfast that Dad actually opened his door, dressed, but looking both bleary-eyed and panicked.

"I'm late, aren't I?"

I grinned. "Yep." Pouring a cup of coffee for him, I slid it across the table.

"You don't have to sound so happy about it," Dad grumbled while buttoning the his top button on his shirt.

"Well you could get there within ten seconds, Dad." I took another mouthful of cereal. "What was it this time?"

He gulped some coffee down before answering. "Volcano. Indonesia."

"And you didn't wake me because...?"

He shot me a stern look over the top of his glasses. "You did have a nightmare, as I recall."

"I still could have helped!" I protested.

Even though we both knew I was more than capable of helping Dad and the other heroes in the League, he'd only allowed me to a few times, since he didn't like me risking my neck. Still, I was slowly wearing him down, and we were both fully aware of the fact that I was operating in Metropolis. We just didn't talk about it.

"Yes, you could have helped," he admitted. "But help wasn't necessary." He kissed my cheek and headed to the door.

"Dad, wait!"

He stopped. "What?"

"Two things - one, don't forget we need milk on your way home. And second-" I held up his tie, "- you might be wanting this."

He stood still while I tied it for him, and then folded his collar down. "Okay, now you're good."

"Right. We can go get Chinese if you drop by the office at lunch."

I nodded. "I have a class till noon, then I'll come to the _Planet_."

"Okay. Have a good day, sweetheart."

"Later, Dad." Shaking my head, I drained my own cup of coffee and then put it in the sink.

For someone who could move at superspeed, Dad still managed to be late at least three times a week - more often than not _without _the influence of natural disasters. My own powers didn't extend further than superstrength, flight and rapid healing, but then I was only half-Kryptonian, after all.

After brushing my teeth, I shouldered my backpack and locked the house before walking the five blocks or so to UMC. Strictly speaking I should be in my second year at college, but I was actually coming to the end of my fourth. I'd pretty much been accelerated through my education since kindergarten, and though that wasn't exactly good for my social life, it did come with some perks. Like the fact that once I had my degree in criminal forensics, I could join the Metropolis police force, and fight crime in a way my father couldn't control.

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**A/N: Review please! **


	4. Chapter Three

**A/N: Thank you for the reviews! And thank you to Daisy Jane. **

**Chapter Three**

_It was dark. Dank. Dripping. But wait, the moisture dropping onto Elizabeth's face was warm. And it didn't stop on her face. The droplets trickled down the baby's arms and legs, soothing the burning pain in her squalling limbs. She was in the arms of a woman, a woman she didn't recognize. The woman was beautiful. The baby didn't feel afraid. The woman was crying, but smiling. She could have been Elizabeth's mother, but equally she could have been anyone's mother. _

_She lifted the child up so that she could see what the woman was looking at. Elizabeth's head turned away as if in pain from the twisted image of Snow White in front of her._

_Two people were trapped in coffins that looked like frosted diamonds. The baby's eyesight wasn't good enough yet - if it were she would've seen in one was a woman with long, dark hair. In the other...his face was covered, either by ice or some kind of mask. _

_The woman holding her whispered. Her voice was soothing - something the child needed, because the sight of these two people made her cry._

"_Have no fear, dear child. You will be safe. You will be loved. You will be protected until you come of age. And they will wait for you."_

_The woman in the icebox snapped awake. It looked like she was going to scream, but all that issued from her mouth was, "Beep, beep, beep, beep..." _

* * *

My head didn't hurt when I woke up - who knew how long I'd been unconscious? If it had been for a while then my rapid healing ability would have kicked in and taken care of any head injury. I poked experimentally at my head. It was a little tender, but no sign of a swelling or any blood. So I was out just long enough for the injury to be mostly healed.

But what had caused me to faint? No, black out. _Faint _was hardly an appropriate term for an Amazon. Amazons did not faint, especially ones that can fly at super sonic speeds. It was worrying, and it had never happened before. I wasn't sick; I didn't suffer from dizziness or vertigo normally.

And that dream... It was almost as though I'd lost consciousness in order to see it - but that was ridiculous, surely? I focused on the few details I could remember. Elizabeth again, but not - and this caused a frisson of anger - not in _my _arms. She was being cradled by another woman, comforted by _another _woman. And Bruce and I-

I stopped. Bruce and I had been in those coffins. So the woman who woken up at the end of the vision had been _me_. Except, I was fairly sure if I had woken up in a coffin of ice, I would have immediately tried to burst out, not _beeped_.

Wait a second - beeped? Like... _Like an alarm clock_, I realized. But I didn't even have an alarm clock, let alone one in my shower! "What in the name of _Gaia _is going on?" I asked aloud.

I stood and shut the water off absently, still thinking. Was it possible I had a daughter? Or rather, that Bruce and I had a daughter? He had to be Elizabeth's father - aside from the fact that there was no one else; he'd been in both dreams. Reality had changed before - our traveling back to World War Two proved that. Likewise, we'd seen memories altered or removed. Grodd, for instance, had been a pro at it. But he was dead, and anyway, he wouldn't have been able to change the memories of the entire League. Would he?

I needed to see J'onn, have some kind of examination to make sure. Once dressed, I headed for the infirmary. My Martian friend was in there, wrapping a burns dressing around Green Arrow's arm. I winced for Ollie.

"That looks nasty."

He nodded. "Warehouse fire. There's always one who thinks the alarm is just a drill, isn't there?"

I smiled. "I take it your corrected their mistake."

"Yep." His burn bandaged, he hopped off the edge of the gurney. "Thanks, J'onn. See you later, Diana."

I waved, and he left the med-bay. J'onn turned to me with a smile. "What can I do for you, Diana?"

"Two things," I said. "I fainted in the shower this morning."

His smile disappeared instantly. "That is most unusual."

"I know. The second thing...is there a way you can tell if a woman has given birth through some kind of examination?"

"The presence of a baby is usually a good indication," he said dryly.

"No, J'onn, I'm serious. I've had two dreams tonight - and in both I saw a child, my child. They were so vivid - after the first one I actually woke convinced I was a mother. And again, when I lost consciousness, I saw the same little girl. And now..." I shifted uncomfortably, "now I still can't shake the feeling that I'm missing her. She should be part of my life, and she's not."

"So you think someone may have modified your memory?" he asked.

"I don't know, maybe...but then there are the memories of you, Bruce, everyone else-" I cut off, biting my lip at my slip and wishing I could take that back almost immediately.

J'onn's only reaction was to nod. I shouldn't be surprised really; he was a telepath, and sometimes I knew I was broadcasting how I felt about Bruce. "That does seem unlikely," he said.

"I know. But could you perform an exam anyway?" I asked.

He nodded. "If it will put your mind at rest."

"Thank you," I sighed.

He handed me a paper gown. "It's an internal examination I'm afraid - if you have given birth then your cervix will not be fully closed."

After drawing curtains around my bed and putting some sterile gloves on, he performed the exam carefully. His ability to shape shift made it far more comfortable that an exam with a human doctor would have been. After a few minutes he drew back, and indicated for me to sit up. "There's no evidence you've ever given birth, Diana. Your hymen is not intact, but that can be broken through strenuous physical activity such as riding rather than intercourse." He shook his head. "You've never had a child."

I swung my legs over to sit on the edge of the bed with a sigh. "It just felt so..._real,_ though."

He nodded as he moved over to drop the gloves in the trash, pushing back the curtains. "There is nothing else I can tell you, Diana." He stood in front of me. "But we still need to talk about your blackout."

"Blackout?"

We both jumped, and I almost groaned. This wasn't _fair_. The doors made a noise when they opened; they gave a little pneumatic hiss for everyone - everyone _except _Batman. I really didn't want to talk to Bruce about this...

Unfortunately, his expression was somewhere between concerned and furious, and indicated he had every intention of getting it out of me somehow or other. "You blacked out, Princess? When?"

I sighed. "In the shower. And I had another dream, as vivid as the first one I told you about."

"Same baby?"

I nodded. "Only she was...in a cave. Maybe...maybe even the Batcave, I don't know. And there was this woman, this woman I knew, but she was holding Elizabeth and-" I broke off before I said, 'and they were looking at us in coffins'.

"And?" he pushed. I could hear it in his tone he didn't believe I was telling him the whole truth. "There's more about this child that you're not telling us."

"Nothing of any significance," I said coldly.

"Diana."

I clenched my fists, and the metal of the bed groaned as it bent. I ground out the answer between my teeth. "She was my child. _Our _child, yours and mine. The first one was a crash, a plane crash. We were all dead, I thought, but then with the second dream, it was only us, she was fine, she was alive, but someone had taken her away-" To my horror, I felt tears in my eyes. I cut off before I could go any further. To cover my embarrassment, I chose anger. "Happy now?" I hissed at him.

He was silent for a second, and his voice was as normal infuriatingly flat. "Sounds like a normal dream."

"It _wasn't_. I know the difference between my normal dreams and this. This...feels like reality. And for Hera's sake, I've never _fainted _before."

He looked at J'onn. "Do a CAT scan and an MRI if you have to. If there's something wrong they'll pick it up."

"So you think I have a brain tumor?"

"It's a possibility."

"And if I don't?" I asked. "If I'm...seeing another reality or something?"

My only reply was a retreating back and the doors closing. Silently.

* * *

**A/N: Review please!**


	5. Chapter Four

**A/N: Thank you for the reviews! Thank you too to Daisy Jane, my brilliant beta :)**

**Chapter Four**

Though the house was close to campus, it was on the other side of the city from the _Planet_. And I had no change for the bus. Knowing Dad wasn't going to like it, I took the stairs up to the roof. I always kept my costume in a hidden compartment in my bag, and there was no one else up here, after all. I changed quickly.

It was a work in progress as far as Superhero costumes went, I had to admit. I'd modeled it - sort of - on the original Supergirl's costume, but since I wasn't a petite blonde an exact replica didn't really suit. The boots and cape were both red, naturally, with the customary 'S' on the cape. After that, it differed - my legs were mostly bare, without Kara's skirt; instead I wore blue shorts that were probably _too _short for Dad's taste, and my red top had long sleeves (a good point in Dad's book), with another, smaller, 'S' cut out at the top. The amount of cleavage wasn't unmanageable at altitude, but was more than Dad would have liked. If it were up to Dad, though, I'd be wearing a romper suit. The belt around my waist was gold.

It took me less than thirty seconds to change - nowhere near as fast as Dad would have managed it, but still pretty quick. Once it was all on, I let my hair out of its rather strict geeky-bun and shoved my useless glasses in my bag. I smiled, feeling much more like this was my true self. I'd had to hide who I was my whole life, just as Dad had. With Dad, though, Clark Kent was as much him as Superman. It wasn't the same for me. This was who I was, _this_. I understood why I had to hide my true identity...but it didn't feel right. It had never felt like something I should be doing.

I took off in a vertical climb, ascending until I was above the clouds and could no longer see Metropolis. My breath came out as steam in the colder air, but I didn't feel the chill. Up here, I only felt free. I took a deep breath of the crisp, cold atmosphere, felt it fill my lungs with something purer than the pollutants of the city. The clouds tumbled over each other below me, created chasms and mountains between them according to the wind's whim.

I turned to face the sun and closed my eyes as its warmth hit me. Dad had described its effect on him as literally having his batteries charged; it wasn't the same for me. It was...slow. Relaxing. Meditative. I could stay here for hours and come away feeling stronger spiritually.

However, for now I didn't have hours. I had about ten minutes before Dad started to get worried and began listening to every sound in Metropolis just in case I was calling for help. I grinned. It was time for my other favourite thing - freefalling.

Forget _flying_ when I was going down - fine if I was saving a 777 (though so far I'd only managed the 747) and needed to steer properly. Now, though, it was just skydiving without the parachute. With a grin, I relaxed totally.

It didn't take long for gravity to work its magic. Within seconds I was hurtling through the cloud barrier, then the spires and spikes of Metropolis's skyscrapers were jutting up at me. I controlled my descent just enough to aim for the _Planet_. This was my dare to myself; seeing how late I could leave it before applying the proverbial brakes. Too early, and I'd class myself as a wimp. Too late, and I'd be diving after the globe after I'd knocked it off the roof of the building altogether.

I braked too late - but not by much. I didn't knock it off, just left a Liz-sized dent in it. I looked at it guiltily as I brushed myself off. Hopefully Dad wouldn't notice it the next time he was up here. Hopefully.

I changed back into my college-girl outfit and pressed the button for the elevator. It was empty when it arrived; I pressed the button for the right floor and got in, tying my hair back loosely again, making sure my glasses weren't askew. When the doors opened, Dad was looking straight at me. His expression wasn't amused.

_Great. He heard me. _

Plastering an innocent smile on my face, I waved, and shrugged apologetically. His face softened; he knew the rush of fierce joy I got from flying. He'd been doing the same thing at my age, after all.

I walked over and put my hands on his shoulders. "Ready?"

"Sure. Let me just grab my jacket."

He got up, and I plopped down in his empty seat, facing the woman opposite me. I smiled at my father's partner. As a kid, I remembered thinking Lois Lane was one of the most beautiful women I'd ever met, no question about that. But whereas some women stayed beautiful with age...Lois hadn't. There was no longer any real spark in her violet eyes anymore, no...fight. Dad still rescued her with the same frankly _alarming _regularity as he had in the old days - last week's a bank robbery being the most recent example - and as far as I knew nothing in her relationship with Superman had changed.

But they were partners now, professionals. They didn't have that...banter that I'd always imagined they did at one time. I had a feeling that its cessation had a lot to do with Lois' marriage to Grant Gabriel, former editor of the _Planet_. It had broken Dad's heart, whatever else it had done. And it hadn't really done any favours for Lois - after five years the marriage had ended in an acrimonious divorce, leaving Lois twelve million dollars richer, senior editor of the paper, and completely unhappy.

"Hey, Lois."

She smiled in return. I'd long been used to it, but I always got the impression having me around was in some way painful for her. She'd always been kind to me - she was Dad's best friend after all - but she didn't...like me. "Hi, Liz. Come to get your dad out of my hair?"

I grinned. "Yup. We're going to get Chinese if you wanna join?"

I could almost predict her reply word for word. It would be a no - it always was. She'd apologize first, then say she'd like to, but she had an assignment overdue, or she had to chase a source, and that Dad and I should have a good time without her. Then she'd wave us off with a wooden smile.

She grimaced. "I'm sorry, Liz, I'd love nothing more, but the chief wants to see me in his office in ten. You two enjoy yourselves anyway." She finished with a grin that was so bright it almost hurt.

The other thing I didn't miss were the looks she cast at Dad when she thought he wasn't looking. I wasn't sure if she knew how she looked at him, but it was...tender and longing and angry and afraid all at once. I was pretty sure, if I had to name it, I'd pick 'love'.

And no matter how many times I casually mentioned to my dad that he should maybe take her out for dinner...he always smiled sadly and changed the subject. Something had happened between the two of them, a long time ago, but I'd be damned if I knew what. And Dad refused to talk about. I didn't have the courage to talk to Lois about it. Yet. When I moved out and he was left by himself then maybe I would. But for now...

* * *

"Diana!"

I blinked; J'onn was horizontal. Why was J'onn horizontal?

"Diana, are you alright?"

I blinked more. J'onn wasn't the one who was horizontal. I was. In fact I was lying on the med-bay floor. Ah. Well at least Bruce had already left. "I fainted again, huh?"

"No," he shook his head, sounding worried, "you didn't. Diana, you fell, but when I turned you over, your eyes were open. You've been looking at nothing for ten minutes."

I frowned. "You mean...I had a _vision_?"

* * *

**A/N: Review please! **


	6. Chapter Five

**A/N: Thank you for the reviews! Also thank you for my lovely beta Daisy Jane. **

**Chapter Five **

J'onn didn't show his surprise, but I felt it emanate from him. "A vision? What did you see?"

"I..." He helped me up, and for a moment I sat on the edge of the gurney and continued to stare into space. "I saw Elizabeth again...only she was grown and she was flying..." Not surprising in itself - if something had happened to Bruce and I, then of course she would be granted my powers. And she seemed to get the same rush that I did with flying - though I'd never tried freefalling... But then there had been _Clark_... And then Lois, but not... Not Clark _and_ Lois. But surely that was...well, impossible.

And Lois referred to him as Elizabeth's father, but that _was _impossible. She was Bruce's daughter; I knew that in my bones. But their interactions had certainly seemed to suggest that they had a close relationship - though if Elizabeth went to college in Metropolis, then it made sense that they'd see quite of lot of one another... I couldn't imagine Clark being less than a great uncle to any child of mine.

J'onn shook my shoulder gently. "Diana?"

I looked up at him. "Sorry, J'onn, I was thinking about what I saw."

"Which was?"

I explained, and his worry only increased. "I think we need to conduct the tests that Batman suggested," he said.

I nodded, and got up, walking with him to the other end of the infirmary. The MRI machine was of course in a room of it's own, and J'onn handed me a paper gown to change into - the metal on my armour would at the very least seriously interfere with readings, if not stick me to the MRI.

I changed, and then lay down. J'onn's voice came over the intercom. "This won't take long, Diana. Hold still."

It wasn't an unpleasant experience, but it wasn't a comfortable one either. The machine was noisy and rather claustrophobic. I was used to the entire sky around me. Being confined to a narrow tube, for however short a time, wasn't exactly enjoyable.

After a few moments, the platform was withdrawn and I sat up. "_I'll just need a moment to look at these results, Diana._"

"Alright, J'onn. Take all the time you need."

I lapsed quickly back into my brooding about Kal. It unsettled me that there should be a world where he and Lois didn't exist... I knew he had yet to tell her the full truth about who he was, but it had never once crossed my mind that he would _never _do so. And how Elizabeth factored in I had no idea.

The door opened, and J'onn came in, bearing the plastic sheets that showed the scans of my brain. "I cannot find anything in these that is out of the ordinary, Diana. All areas of your brain are operating perfectly normally. I could take a look telepathically if you wish."

I nodded wearily. "Go ahead."

He put his hands either side of my head. Normally if we engaged in telepathic communication like this it would be literally a conversation inside my mind, but this time his attention was less focused. I felt it like a faint pressure in my mind, with the pressure not settling anywhere particular. After a few minutes, he withdrew again.

I was barely listening to him as he explained whatever inconsistencies he might have found in my mind. I was sure he, as well as I, now had a head that was full of Clark, Bruce, Lois and Elizabeth.

I cut him off as he was explaining the intricacies of my cerebral cortex. "J'onn," I said in exasperation, "what's happening to me?"

He shook his head. "I don't know. Medically speaking there's nothing wrong with you. Even during your blackouts, you just seem to be...falling asleep. If I had to offer a diagnosis, I'd say you have narcolepsy."

"Narcolepsy?" I asked. "J'onn, I'm having _visions_, and believe me, they are not dreams! I'm not just sleeping when I faint!"

"But I've analyzed your brain patterns, and you _are _dreaming, Diana," he said gently.

I sighed, pushing my face into my hands. "J'onn, when I dream, I know about it. I know it's not real as soon as I open my eyes. This... I can't tell. Batman can tell you. The first time it happened, I actually shook him, demanding that he tell me where our daughter was." I looked up at him. "Tell me, J'onn. Does that sound like a dream to you?"

He sighed. "No. But I have no other explanation."

My shoulders slumped. "So I am just...making it up?"

"It looks that way," he agreed. "Batman may have found something, but I'm..."

"Stumped," I finished for him. "Thanks anyway, J'onn."

I left the med-bay heading for the transporter room. I didn't want to be hopeful, but J'onn was right. If there was nothing medically wrong with me that he could find, then Bruce would be the only other person who might have found something. I wasn't heading over to the Batcave though, at least not yet.

That..._vision_ had worried me, and not for myself, but for Kal. If what I'd seen had been the future, then it meant he wouldn't be with Lois, for whatever reason. And I knew he loved her, more than anything. He hadn't told her, of course, or even told her he was Superman, but still... I'd always assumed that one day he would.

So what had gone wrong? _Had _anything gone wrong? And if not, what would? He was my friend; it was my duty to check. I wasn't exactly close to Lois - we'd never had the opportunity to get to know each other - but I knew enough to know she was good for Kal. They'd make each other happy.

I touched my com-link, making sure to keep my tone light. "Superman, it's Diana."

"Go ahead, Diana," he replied, a smile in his tone. Good, he was relaxed. Nothing wrong.

"There's no problem, but do you fancy getting some lunch? It's been a while since we caught up."

"Sure. I'm in Smallville helping out at the farm - why don't you come down and have lunch with us?"

I smiled. "Sounds great. I'll transport down."

"Alright, Diana. See you soon."

"Bye, Clark."

I changed out of my uniform and into some jeans and a t-shirt - the Kent Farm was somewhat isolated from the rest of Smallville, but even so, turning up in my armour would not be the best idea. Along with the Batcave, the Kent's farm wasn't programmed into the League transport computer. I'd memorized the coordinates a long time ago, but never had occasion to visit so far. In fact I'd never met either of Clark's parents. I wasn't nervous though - anyone who could raise _Clark _could never be anything less than wonderful.

A few minutes later, I was beamed down into the middle of the yard - and then immediately had to dodge the tractor was the walking toward me. At my cry of surprise, Clark dropped it. "Wow, sorry, Diana."

I laughed. "It's okay, Clark. Do you need a hand?"

"There's another one over there - I'm going to swap the carburetor over. Could you detach the hood from the rest?"

"Of course."

"Oh, but, um...gently." His gaze twinkled, knowing that delicacy wasn't exactly my strong suit.

How I was supposed to gently rip a tractor in half I wasn't quite sure, but I gave it my best shot, still managing to cut my finger on the jagged metal. It made me hiss in pain, but it had healed before the blood reached my wrist. Carrying the front portion of the tractor over to Clark, I reminded myself why I'd come.

"So how's Lois?"

Clark straightened abruptly, and promptly banged his head on the open hood of the intact tractor. It left a dent. "She's good," he said, popping the dent back out. "Busy." He paused, his head going down. "Has a new boyfriend."

I also stilled. "What's his name?"

"Grant Gabriel."

I felt my blood run cold.

* * *

"If I _ever _catch you out here again..."

I didn't finish my threat, but then I didn't need to. The quick bobbing up and down of the thug's Adam's apple told me he wouldn't be in a hurry to attack defenseless young women for a while, not if he risked having to deal with either me or my father.

My hand still firmly gripping his collar, I lifted into the air and flew with him - rather higher than was strictly necessary - over the streets of Metropolis. When I spotted a police patrol car, I landed in the road a little way ahead of it, giving the driver plenty of time to brake.

A policewoman got out of the passenger side. She nodded to me. "Supergirl."

"Good evening officer." I thrust the man in my grasp forward. "Assault, attempted theft and attempted rape."

She handcuffed him and then roughly shoved him into the back of the car. "Thanks. We'll handle it from here."

I nodded. "Thank you. Goodnight."

"Night, ma'am."

I giggled as I took off into the night sky. It was still so odd being called that. I guessed the further I progressed in my superhero career the more it was going to happen, but still. Ma'am at twenty was an odd concept.

My high spirits were quickly arrested when I got to around two thousand feet. Ignoring the frown, I smiled at Dad. "Nice night, isn't it?"

He folded his arms. "We need to talk about this, Lizzie."

Uh-oh. I wasn't Lizzie anymore unless I was about to get hugged or talked out of something. "What about it?"

"I don't like it. You're too young to-"

"Please, Dad, I'm twenty. I have been legal adult in most things for two years; I can vote and get married. The only thing I can't do is buy you a drink at Smitty's. Besides I have a responsibility to the city, you can't say I don't."

It could have been either the moonlight or my imagination, but I thought he looked pale suddenly. Still, he cleared his throat and continued with his argument. I wondered if he actually thought he stood any chance of winning.

"I'm not saying that, but at the same time-"

"Then why are we up here still talking about this?" I asked, heading downward. I only got a few hundred feet before he caught up with me. Damn superspeed.

"Lizzie..."

"Dad." I had no intention of making this easy for him.

"Will you at least promise to avoid the bigger crimes?" he asked. "And...natural disasters?"

"Define 'bigger'."

"Anything involving life-threatening peril."

"No."

"No?!"

"Yeah, Dad, I said no. Look, if anything is strong enough to threaten your life, then no way am I letting you fight it alone!"

He sighed. "I forgot how stubborn you are. You must get that from-"

He cut off, and I floated closer, hugged him. "From Mom?"

He embraced me. "Please don't risk your life too much, Liz."

"Would you for me?"

"Yes," he said without hesitation. "But I'm your dad, it's my job."

"Then it's your _obligation _to accept that I'm going to do the same for you, Daddy. Sorry."

He chuckled. "You don't have be to sorry, Lizzie. I-" He put a hand to his ear. "Superman here. Go ahead, Watchtower." A pause. "On my way."

He looked down at me. "I need to go, Liz-"

We both heard sirens, and looked down to see a line of ten or more police cars streaking their way downtown. "I got this," I assured him. "Go deal with whatever the League wants."

He kissed my forehead. "Be careful."

I grinned. "You too. I'd hate to have to come rescue you when I've got my hands full."

* * *

**A/N: Right, three things - first, for anyone who's played/watched someone else play/ read about the Fallout games, please go read Finger Trap, a new fic that's been written by someone close to me. It's on my favourites list - and even if you've never heard of the game, it's still worth a look. **

**Second, I'm posting a new fic on a certain other website devoted to BMWW. It's called 'Memories to a Stranger' - I'm not posting it here because it's rated too highly for this site. So if you're over 18, off you go and read it! If you're not sure which site I'm talking about, send a message my way and I'll let you know.**

**Three - review please! **


	7. Chapter Six

**A/N: Thank you for the reviews! **

**Chapter Six **

I opened my eyes with a heavy heart this morning. It was the anniversary of the death of Batman and Wonder Woman. Twenty years today. I'd never met them - well, I had an image in my head of Dad taking me up to the Watchtower as a newborn to show me off, so maybe I'd met Diana - so the sadness, for me, was background. It was heavy, but alien.

For Daddy, it was anything but alien. They'd been his best friends. Each time this date came around, he'd go really quiet for a week either side of the actual day, prone to staring into space. I did what I could; made dinner, listened if he needed to talk, distracted him with inane college stuff if he didn't want to.

_Shit_. I hadn't taken my birthday cards down yet. We normally left them up for two weeks, but when I went to take them down, Dad told me to leave them up. I'd raised an eyebrow. "Why?"

He'd shrugged and smiled oddly. "They bring some colour to the room, don't you think?"

"I guess..."

In consequence they'd stayed up for almost a month now, but I could think of few things _more _inappropriate than having celebrations everywhere when we were about to enter a period of such sadness. Just three days after Batman and Wonder Woman had been killed, Mom died.

It would never stop Dad blaming himself, but there was nothing he could have done. It was pretty simple - he was saving the world, there was a fire. He just...didn't get there in time. He had time to save one of us. Even Superman can't be everywhere at once.

I rubbed absently at my upper arm. The scar was barely visible now, except in summer. It was the only part of me that didn't tan, and the only thing I had to remind me of my mother - because of the fire, we had no photos of her.

But I didn't need photos - I knew what she was like. Whenever Dad talked about her, I felt like I was talking to Mom myself. I knew she had a dry sense of humour, I knew she found it difficult to let herself be vulnerable emotionally, I knew she was clever, I knew she'd kick the ass of anyone who underestimated her, I knew she was beautiful, I knew she was strong. I knew...she was the perfect woman. I'm sure Dad embellished certain parts, but that didn't matter. I had the most brilliant woman in the world as my mother - maybe even _more _brilliant because she didn't know me. She'd never nagged at me to do my homework, or clean my teeth; we'd never fought about an inappropriate boyfriend, she'd never grounded me. We had the perfect relationship.

I still missed her.

I thought I dreamt about her, sometimes. Midnight hair and sapphire eyes. An effortless, warming smile. Flashes, though, nothing more, and more than likely imagined anyway. I'd only been a month old, after all.

I got up, wrapping myself in my dressing gown. Going downstairs into the living room, I took the cards down as quickly as possible, then went back upstairs, throwing them onto my bed. I'd sort out the ones I wanted to keep and the ones that would go in the trash later, after we got back. I heard Dad stirring as I moved out onto the landing, so put the coffee on while I tipped the remains of the cereal box into a bowl once in the kitchen. To find there was no milk.

"Damn it, Dad..." I muttered.

"Damn it, Dad, what?" he called from his bedroom.

"You forgot the milk!" _Not that I'm surprised... _"You're going to have to have your coffee black," I warned, deciding to leave the admonitions there. It was going to be a tough day, after all.

I poured Greek yogurt onto my cereal instead, then switched on the TV. And then almost immediately off again. It wasn't a day for the too-white smiles of the hosts of _Good Morning, America_.

When Dad came downstairs, he wasn't Clark Kent - I handed the mug of coffee to Superman. His smile was genuine, but sad. "How'd you sleep?" I asked.

"Not well," he answered. "I just...can't believe it's been twenty years already..."

I hugged him with my free arm. "What time have we got to be there?"

He didn't need to look at the clock. "Ten." I nodded. Right. It was ten every year.

I moved upstairs once I'd finished with breakfast, having a quick shower. In my bedroom, I moved to the closet and shoved all my day clothes to one side, exposing a ten digit key pad. I'd installed it when I was fifteen; beforehand, Dad had just kept his costume in an opaque plastic covering. I put one in his closet too.

I typed in my PIN quickly, and the fake back of the wardrobe slid to one side. I sighed as I looked at my costume, then pulled it out. There was no college for me today; no Elizabeth Kent at all. Today there was Supergirl.

I changed, and flew down the stairs. "Ready, Daddy?"

He nodded. I squeezed his hand, and then it was time to take off, heading for Gotham.

* * *

"Diana?"

I blinked, my eyes meeting Clark's. "Huh?"

"You okay? You spaced out for a second there."

My mind groped around for whatever we'd been talking about before I'd had that vision. _...Lois? _"Um, no, I'm fine. I was just thinking where I'd heard the name before."

A scowl crossed his face. "Oh. He's an editor of the paper."

"Ah. I see." But I already knew that. I knew that because Elizabeth knew it. Or would know it. But there, they'd actually _married_. I needed to know what in Tartarus was going on. And J'onn had said it before - if he couldn't help me, then very likely Bruce was the only one who could.

"Um, Kal, I have to go. Tell your mother I said hello."

I was in the air before he had a chance to reply. My mind was mulling over the vision I'd just had. Bruce and I were dead? We were _dead_? How? When? Was that why Clark was raising our daughter? But in that case...why did she _insist _on calling him her father? Clark would have never disrespected our memory like that, I was sure of it.

It took me a long time to calm down. I knew, logically, that what I'd seen wasn't real, or at least wasn't real in my life, but emotionally I was still reeling. Eventually I realised that though I was heading east, I'd been flying for more than half an hour now, and it looked as though Kansas was still beneath me.

I came to a stop, hovering in midair. "Wonder Woman to Watchtower."

J'onn's voice came back. "_What do you need, Diana?_"

"Can you transport me to the Batcave, J'onn?"

"_Affirmative._"

"Thank you."

There was a flash of light, and then the darkness of the Cave. Bruce was, as expected, at the computer. "Did the test results show anything?" he asked immediately.

"No," I said. "Medically there's nothing wrong with me, and the only diagnosis J'onn can offer is narcolepsy."

"You think he's wrong?"

"I know he's wrong," I corrected. "I've just been to see Clark; I had another vision. We're dead."

He turned to me, an eyebrow raised. "We're dead?"

"Yep. And as far as I can tell, Clark is raising our...our daughter as his own. Which I can't fathom. It doesn't seem like Clark..."

"So what do you think is happening?"

I shrugged. "I wondered if perhaps I'm seeing the future, or..."

"Or?" he asked.

"A parallel world?" I ventured. "It is a possibility after all, right? I thought perhaps the Lords' world-"

"It's not the Lords' world," he interrupted.

"How do you know?" I asked curiously.

"One, their world is moving at the same pace in time as ours. How old is Elizabeth?"

"Around twenty," I said.

I nodded. "True. What was two?"

He stilled. "Two?"

"You said 'one'," I pointed out. "It sounded like there was another cause for you to know it couldn't be the Justice Lords." He paused, but another thought occurred to me. I wanted to see them. We took their powers away - I could imagine few things more terrible than having what made me me snatched away, and presumably doing so had ended their reign of tyranny. So what had become of them? Of...me?

"Can you show me?"

"No. Don't have time."

He was lying. "Why not?"

"I'm busy, Princess."

I shot him a reproachful look. "Bruce, I've known you long enough to know when you're lying. Why won't you show me?"

His fists clenched, but finally he sighed. His fingers flew across the keyboard with soft tapping noises, and then the huge screen lit up. I took a step closer once the image focused.

It was the manor, or the grounds at least. There were two little boys playing in a tree — and watching them, laughing, from the grass was a woman identical to me, with hair just a little bit shorter.

Bruce spoke. "They have twin boys," he said. "That's how I know."

"Oh." More silence. We carried on watching as Bruce's double appeared, and the family began throwing a football around. It was a vision of...normality.

I let loose a sad sigh. "What are we doing wrong, Bruce?"

"What do you mean?" he asked quietly, after a pause.

I gestured at the screen that still displayed the images of our parallel selves playing with their children. "How many parallel realities are there?"

"An infinite number," he replied.

"How many have you seen?" I amended.

"Over a hundred," he admitted.

"How many are you not Batman in?"

He didn't look as though he knew where this was going, but answered anyway. "Two."

"How many of the ninety eight is there a Justice League?"

"Seventy six."

"And in those seventy six, including our reality...how many are we not together in?"

There was a long pause, but I knew he'd answer. In his mind he was busy trying to deny that it mattered. And if it didn't matter, he could tell me. "One."

"One," I nodded. "Again: what are we doing wrong?"

* * *

**A/N: Review please!**


	8. Chapter Seven

**A/N: Thank you for the reviews! **

**Chapter Seven **

There was a very long silence. Then Bruce did something unexpected. He answered me. Angrily, but it was an answer. He stood abruptly. "What do you want me to say, Diana? Obviously that's my fault, isn't it?"

"Bruce, I didn't say-"

"Do you have to?" he asked scornfully. "If it were up to you, we'd be together, right? If you could wave a magic wand-"

"Enough!" I snapped. "Do you honestly think I would do that? I don't know why you're so different from every other version of you, but there is no way in Tartarus I would _ever _accept a relationship with you if you didn't want it with all your heart!" I looked at him, shaking my head. "If you don't know that...then I don't think you know me at all."

He sat back down with a sigh. "I don't know why either," he said sullenly. He gestured at the screen. "I don't know why he forgave her, or she him. I don't know why they've accepted the idea that they're entitled to be happy when..."

There was more, and it was obvious, but he fell silent. I made a noise of impatience. "Say it, Bruce. Say it."

He spoke reluctantly. "If they are happy, then we certainly should be."

I nodded. "If you're happy, tell me. Tell me that there's no hope of there ever being an 'us'. Tell me to stop wasting my time, that you view me as nothing but a friend - I'll walk out and be happy myself."

"You know I can't tell you that."

I nodded. "Then one more thing." I walked over to him, lifted his chin. "Do you respect me?"

He frowned. "Diana...why do you need to ask?"

"Bruce."

"Of course I do."

I nodded, keeping my voice level. This wasn't the time for accusations or pleading. "Then respect me enough not to keep me in limbo. I'm not giving you a deadline but I'm also not going to tell you I'll wait forever. Just give me an answer. Is it going to be one way or the other?"

What his answer might have been, I never found out.

* * *

Gotham was...dark. It seemed to have gotten darker in the last year, too. I'd never properly looked at it before, but now...

"Jeez, what a dump..." I muttered under my breath.

Dad heard it, and shot me a glare. "Elizabeth, please! Show some respect!"

I twisted my mouth. "Sorry, Dad."

But still, it was, unavoidably, a..._dump. _The streets were dirty, there were flashing blue lights in whichever direction I looked, at least seventy percent of the store windows were boarded up, there were homeless people at literally every corner - one of whom wasn't even bothering to conceal the needle currently buried in the crook of his arm. When I compared it to Metropolis...

I sighed. This city needed... Well, it needed Batman.

The memorial service was...strange. Watching my dad and all the other founding members of the League display their grief in public...some of them crying, was _wrong_. I knew, more than most, that there was far more to them - to us - than heroes, but even so. They were the symbol of strength for the entire world. It somehow...brought them down to mortal levels to do this.

But maybe that was the point. I didn't really listen to what was said; five years ago I had, diligently, but the same prayers were said every year. Then something happened that did pique my interest.

J'onn had been delivering his eulogy, but then his normally somber expression turned, if possible, even more serious. "On the twentieth anniversary of the death of her daughter, please welcome Hippolyta, Queen of the Amazon people."

My jaw dropped and it opened wider when Hippolyta came into view. She looked so...young. Only about ten years older than me, yet this was a woman _thousands _of years old. She carried it in her eyes though. There was the despair and weariness of hundreds of lifetimes in that blue gaze.

Before she spoke, her gaze flicked to Dad. For a second they were looking at each other like they were having a private conversation that only they could hear. Like they...had a secret. I frowned, and even though it only lasted for a few seconds, there was something about that look I couldn't shake off. It was like she was condemning Dad for something.

Then she looked down at the podium she was standing next to...and then her eyes fell on me. I had no idea what she said, but she didn't look away from me through the whole speech. And I couldn't do anything but look back.

"Liz?"

I blinked, and in that blink, Hipployta had somehow disappeared. "Liz?"

I looked at Dad. "Huh?"

"The ceremony's over," Dad told me, looking concerned about my lack of attention.

"What? Already? Where… Where did Hippolyta go?"

"She left ages ago, sweetheart," he told me.

I shook my head. There was no sign of Hippolyta anywhere, and people seemed to be leaving. "Oh. I guess we should go then."

He nodded and then took off. I followed while still thinking about Hippolyta. What if I'd been wrong? What if I'd...fallen asleep or something, and imagined it? Why would she look at _me _so intently? Did I look in some way like Diana? I had dark hair and blue eyes, so it was possible, but I'd seen thousands of pictures of Wonder Woman, and aside from that I really didn't look all that much like her. There was my height, but...

My reverie was broken when Dad answered a call on his com-link. His face was serious as he took his hand down. I spoke before he could. "Go. I'll meet you at home."

"Alright, honey. Be safe."

He sped away, and I continued toward home. Two blocks away, a scream caught my attention. I sped toward it, and saw a woman being chased into an alley by two men, both of whom were carrying guns. It wasn't hard to fly silently up behind them, grab them both by the collars and shake them hard. The two guns hit the ground with a clatter.

I banged their heads together with enough force to render them both unconscious, then looked toward the woman they'd been chasing. "Are you alright?"

She nodded, but was visibly trembling. I moved closer and offered her a hand up. She didn't take it. Instead she reached into her clothes and pulled out a piece of glowing green rock. Kryptonite. I flinched backward, and she pressed her advantage, getting up with far more agility than she'd shown before.

Then I realized something.

I wasn't feeling cold. I wasn't feeling sick. I wasn't in pain. It was doing _nothing _to me.

The smile was back on my face in an instant. I batted her hand away, then picked her up by the scruff of the neck. "Next time - make sure it's real," I recommended pleasantly. Before punching her.

Once all three of them were in the hands of the police, I touched my com-link. I wasn't technically a member of the League yet, but Dad had given me one for emergencies. Not that this was an emergency, but I needed the equipment on the Watchtower for this analysis.

"Supergirl to Watchtower."

Green Arrow answered me, sounding surprised. "_Go ahead, Supergirl._"

"Transport me up, please."

"_Engaging now._"

A few seconds later, and I was standing in the transporter room of the massive space station. I made my way to the forensics lab, and then pulled the 'kryptonite' from my clothes, and put it down. At times like this, _I _could have used Batman - I really had no idea what I was looking for. I was only working for a few minutes when I was interrupted.

The doors opened, and Flash came in. He looked surprised to see me, but grinned and waved in greeting anyway. "Hey, Liz."

I smiled. "Hi, Uncle Wally. How're you?"

He started to reply, but then spotted the green rock beside me, and his eyes widened.

"Oh, it's not real," I smiled. "Don't worry."

"And...How'd you know it's not real?"

I sent him a quizzical look. "It didn't affect me, but it looks like the genuine article - I think whoever manufactured it does have access to the real thing. That's obviously a concern, so I'm analyzing this piece and trying to find any distinguishing feature or identifying marks."

There was a silence, and then he said, "Good idea."

I smiled, and continued. Uncle Wally left after a while, and I catalogued everything I could find, but nothing stood out. There _were _no marks or serial numbers. I frowned at it in frustration. Then the doors hissed open behind me.

"There you are!"

I turned in my seat, so that my back was to the computer, and smiled. "Hey, Dad. Everything alright?"

He nodded, coming fully into the room. "What happened to-"

It was like he'd walked into a wall; suddenly he stopped, and then doubled over, paling instantly. I was out of my seat in a second, my arms going out to catch him. "Daddy, what's wrong?"

His breathing was heavy, and his gaze landed on the fake kryptonite. My horrified gaze followed his. "Oh my God!" That was…it couldn't be…forgetting what might and might not be impossible, I focused on what was important - getting Daddy out. "Lean on me," I said quickly, tugging him toward the door.

Once we were out of the room, he was better immediately. His breathing got easier, and he straightened. I stared at him. "What the _hell _was that?" I demanded.

"A better question, Elizabeth, is what are you doing with _kryptonite _on the Watchtower?!"

"It's not kryptonite, Dad, it's fake! It didn't affect me at all, how could it be real?" Even as I spoke, it was obvious that it _was _real. How else would it have affected Dad like that? "I- I'm sorry, Daddy, I..."

He shook his head, also looking as though he was calming down. "You weren't to know, Liz. If it didn't affect you then how could you?"

"I just...I don't understand..."

"Well you are half-Kryptonian, so I guess..."

My frown didn't go away. That didn't make sense. I had Kryptonian DNA, even a small amount would have been enough to affect me, maybe not as strongly as Dad…and yet...I'd felt _nothing_. That wasn't right.

That _really _wasn't right.

* * *

**A/N: Review please!**


	9. Chapter Eight

**A/N: Thank you for the reviews! And thank you to Daisy Jane as well. Also, if I could ask a personal favour - my mother's just undergone surgery, and there are complications. If anyone's religious, prayers would be greatly appreciated. Thank you. Enjoy the chapter. **

**Chapter Eight **

I bit my lip, wincing when I drew blood. It was the fiftieth time I'd sunk my teeth into my lip today, and each time it had been because I'd forgotten I was superstrong. I'd been brooding about the same subject all day, and I was still without an answer.

My father was a Kryptonian. He had been born on the planet of Krypton, to Kryptonian parents, and then sent to Earth for refuge as Krypton exploded.

He had purely Kryptonian DNA. The yellow light of our sun gave him his super abilities. In red light, he lost his powers. Kryptonite, the radioactive pieces of his home world, was fatal to him if he suffered prolonged exposure.

And I was his daughter. Half of his DNA had made me. I had superstrength and I could fly. Yet kryptonite didn't affect me.

Which made _absolutely _no sense.

Kryptonite vulnerability should be written into my very genetic makeup, just as my powers were. Yet it wasn't.

And Dad's reasoning - that it was because of my mother's human DNA - was simply too flimsy to withstand logic. There had to be more to it than that. I had the horrible feeling that Dad knew more than he was letting on - I could sense that he knew a greater truth. He hadn't lied to me; Daddy had never lied to me, but there had to be _something_...

"What floor?"

…he was keeping from me and I was missing it, and it was right there in front of me, I just knew it was-

"Miss? Miss!"

I looked up, blinking at the man who'd just entered the elevator. "I'm sorry?"

He was blond, tall, muscular; unmistakably good-looking, but I couldn't find him attractive. He was...cruelly so. He was smiling, but it wasn't meeting his dark eyes. "What floor are you going to?"

"Um, twenty two, please."

"Oh, the _Planet_. Are you an intern?" he asked me with another grin.

"No," I replied, "My father is a reporter."

"Right." He stretched out a hand. "Cyrus."

I shook it briefly, but hard enough to certainly hurt. He didn't make any indication of being in any pain. And the way his eyes drilled into mine was kind of creepy. "Elizabeth."

The elevator seemed to crawl up the floors; it didn't stop, but I was sure it had been faster than this the last time I came to the _Planet_. I avoided eye contact and tamped down on further conversation as much as I could, despite the fact that 'Cyrus' was obviously interested in me. The way he was looking at me made my skin crawl. I know that I am attractive, I don't suffer from false modesty, but something about the way he looked at me was just wrong. I had no desire to have any further contact with him, and by floor nineteen he'd picked up on that. It didn't stop him running his eyes up and down my body - and no amount of glaring did either.

When it reached floor twenty-two, I glanced at him once more. There was a smirk on his face and I didn't like the look of it. I was through the doors almost before they were open, and once the doors were closed behind me I couldn't suppress a shiver.

It was after six, so the office was almost deserted apart from Dad and Lois, both of whom were working on an assignment that the chief had demanded for tomorrow's edition. It was hardly the first time Dad had been in the office way after working hours, and I was well used to being asked to pick up takeout on my way home from college. Today was Chinese.

I knocked on the door of their office, and pushed it open. "Delivery girl's here!"

Dad wasn't there, which didn't surprise me. I'd heard sirens on my way over. He'd be back once he'd dealt with the emergency. Lois was alone in the office. This was going to be awkward.

My step faltered a little bit - she actually looked happy to see me. Then I realized that her gaze was directed at the paper bag in my left hand. I gave an inwardly sad sigh. "There're prawn crackers in here as well as your chow mien, Lois. And I got you some egg rolls, too. I know they're your favourite."

She looked at me then, probably caught by the depressed sound of my sentence. "Thanks, Liz," she said, with a genuine smile. I knew it was genuine because it was also slightly odd. It didn't look like it came easily. She indicated Dad's empty seat. "Sit down. I've got way more chow mien than I could ever eat here."

For a moment I just stared. Was this actually Lois Lane offering me an olive branch? Twenty years she'd been in my life, and _now_ she wanted to be friends?

I'm not stupid. I took it with both hands and sat down in Dad's seat. Despite the fact she'd invited me to share her dinner, there wasn't much conversation. "So what are you working on?" I asked, indicating the computer in front of me.

She perked up immediately; like Dad, Lois loved what she did. "Corruption in the state governor's office. This is going to be huge when it breaks tomorrow. It's going on the front page."

"Hardly a novelty for you two," I smiled.

"Never gets old, though."

The awkwardness was just easing when, a few minutes later, Dad entered the room, looking not at all as though he'd just put out a fire. Then it came right back. Or at least, for me it did. Without Dad there, I was Liz, and she was Lois, and that was enough to keep us chatting. With him here...I was again the person that was keeping them apart. With Dad here, the fact that my last name was Kent mattered.

I went home soon after that, taking an egg roll with me and deciding to walk home instead. It took me a long time, but I still had thinking to do. More thinking that went around in circles.

A loud babble of laughter in front of me, caught my attention. I was on my street, I found, when I looked up. And what I saw made my blood boil. There was a group of young men, four or five of them were running toward me. I didn't move out of the way, and two ran into me - and bounced off. As they fell to the ground, I could see what they were running away from.

An old man they'd apparently just mugged; he was still lying on the sidewalk, not moving. I wondered if he was even alive. Seeing that one of the fallen thugs held a wallet in his hand, I stepped on his arm and felt complete satisfaction when the bone snapped.

His friends hadn't waited for him, so I knocked him out and then ran to the old man. I cursed as I saw his face as he was a neighbour. I whipped out my cell and dialed 9 and 1 - then stopped. I could get to the hospital quicker than any ambulance.

I swallowed. Certainly I didn't have time to change - not if his life was in danger. I bit my lip and made my decision.

* * *

"Diana?"

I knew that voice.

"Princess, look at me. Blink, talk, something!"

I did blink and found myself looking into Bruce's eyes. It did not help with the dizziness. I smiled. "She's helping people, Bruce. She's doing exactly what we do, without us there, it's who she is-"

He took my hands. "Diana, slow down. You're having visions of Elizabeth again?"

I nodded. "I'm so proud of her."

His grip moved from that of a friend to that of a colleague; from my hands to my shoulders. "Diana, focus! She does not exist. You have to remember that, otherwise you'll be overwhelmed by these...these visions."

"Well, she might not exist _now_," I interrupted, hurt for a reason I couldn't pinpoint, "but in the future-"

"Diana. This is no Elizabeth. There never _will_ be an Elizabeth."

I stared at him in shock. "What?" I breathed.

He looked away, and I wondered if he'd even meant it. There was only one way to know. It was my turn to grasp his shoulders, and I made him look at me, scanning his gaze. It was hard and opaque. And that realization was like an arrow to the gut. He meant it. He meant for us to never be together. He meant for Elizabeth to never exist.

The one thing he hadn't counted on, though, was the fact I was already a mother. I already knew my daughter. I knew she had all the qualities of a fine Amazon, even without my guidance. I knew she had Bruce's quick mind and - unfortunately - a healthy dose of his paranoia. To tear her away now was _beyond _cruel. Tears were falling down my face before I could stop them.

Unfortunately, the other thing falling was me. Looked like the visions weren't done with me yet...

* * *

Three minutes after I'd taken off, I touched down in an alleyway right outside the ER. The old man in my arms hadn't stirred once, and I transferred him into a fireman's carry. It wasn't exactly probable, but it would attract far fewer stares than landing in the ambulance bay.

After moving forward and calling for help, six paramedics converged on me. Two of them were brining a gurney, and they helped me lay the old man onto it, then rolled him into the hospital. I followed, naturally, and answered the doctors' questions as best I could.

"What happened?"

"He was mugged," I told them. "I didn't see it, but there were about four or five guys running away from him. I ran to him and saw that he needed medical attention. Since it wasn't that far from here, I figured an ambulance would actually take longer."

There were many more questions after that one before I got to ask my own questions. It turned out that he was going to be okay – he just had a concussion and severe bruising. It was fortunate that there were no broken bones or internal injuries.

The primary doctor that had been attending to him squeezed my shoulder. "It's nice to see a young person caring so much about the elderly. You did good, honey."

I smiled. "Thanks. Can't imagine that anyone else would have done anything differently though."

"You'd be surprised," she said. "You can go home now. We'll monitor him during the night. He should be able to go home in the morning."

"Is it okay if I stay until he wakes up? He's really got no one else."

She smiled. "Alright."

"Thank you, Doctor."

With a last smile, she left, and I went back to watching over my neighbour.

Mr. Pennyworth was at least ninety-four years old, and had lived three doors down from us for as long as I could remember. He made the best Halloween treats in the world, gingerbread pumpkins. And homemade candy canes at Christmas. Since Grandpa had died before I was born, he was the closest thing I had to a grandfather.

I had no idea what his first name was.

After a few more minutes, I remembered Dad didn't know where I was, so I sent him a brief text to let him know I was safe and roughly what had happened.

"I don't think the use of those is allowed in hospitals, my dear."

I jumped out of my seat.

Mr. Pennyworth was smiling when I eventually regained my seat. "I apologise."

I waved my hand. "Don't be. How are you feeling?"

"...as though I've been mugged," he replied after a pause.

"Well you were. I wasn't in time to stop them, but I did rescue your wallet," I replied, holding it out to him.

He took it with a frail hand. "Thank you, Elizabeth. I owe you a great deal."

"Well you can repay me by telling me your first name, because I realised today I have no idea what it is."

He smiled. "Alfred."

I smiled in return. "Alfred." An old fashioned, proper, and very English name which very much suited him.

Despite assuring the doctor I'd only stay until he'd woken up, I ended up sitting with Alfred for another few hours, until it was well after midnight. We talked about him, mostly; he'd known me from a little girl, but aside from the fact that he was the nice old man who gave me candy at Halloween, I really had no idea what kind of life he'd led. I learned he'd lived in Gotham until about twenty years ago, and until then had been butler to the Wayne family, of all people. I'd heard of Bruce Wayne of course, in the same way most people have heard of Elvis - a million miles from me, ridiculously famous and rich, and dead in almost as embarrassing circumstances. Though I suppose as ways to go went, a heart attack during an orgy wasn't bad...

"He must have been a nightmare boss," I said jokingly.

Alfred went very quiet, and very sad. "You'd be surprised, Elizabeth. As clichéd as it may sound, there were several brilliant qualities he had that were simply not seen by the public and press."

"Well, I guess you'd know better than anyone."

He nodded. "When Mr. and Mrs. Wayne were killed, I became the boy's only parent, really."

I shivered. "That must have been terrible. I can't imagine losing my dad _now_, let alone at eight years old."

The mention of Daddy seemed to change something; Alfred withdrew mentally and physically, leaning back on his pillows. "Speaking of which, you should be getting home, Elizabeth. I imagine he'll be wondering where you are. And I am quite fatigued, as you can imagine."

I nodded and got up. "Of course. Um, here's my cell number. Call me tomorrow when they discharge you, okay? I'm sure Dad would be more than happy to give you a ride home."

He took the piece of paper from me with a smile. "Thank you, Elizabeth."

"Goodnight, Mr- Alfred."

"Goodnight, my dear."

I found a roof access and changed, then flew home in the right costume hoping no one had seen me before. There would certainly be pictures of it in the _Planet _tomorrow. In fact if that were the case, then I'd probably cheated Lois out of her headline. Either that or the house would be surrounded by press when I got home.

My luck held; it wasn't. Dad wasn't back yet either, which didn't surprise me. It wouldn't be the first time he'd pulled an all-nighter at the office. I changed and went to bed.

I don't know what time it was that I woke up; but I knew I'd had a nightmare. It was like the others - my heart was pounding, a cold sweat had broken out and I was crying without knowing why.

I waited more than ten seconds, but the house was silent. "Daddy?" I whispered.

Nothing.

He was still too far away to hear me. It was up to me to calm down. A stern voice popped up at the back of my mind. _Come on, Elizabeth, you're twenty years old. You can't go running to Daddy for the rest of your life when you have a scary dream! _

After much mental shaking, I managed to get out of bed and down to the kitchen as I was suddenly thirsty. I pulled some cold water out of the fridge and drank deeply. The clock showed three a.m.

Then, thankfully, there was a familiar whooshing sound.

"Lizzie?"

I swallowed. "In the kitchen."

A second later, Dad arrived, looking worried. "What are you doing up so late?"

"Nightmare," I replied, putting the glass in the sink.

"Another one?" He put an arm around my shoulders. "Are you alright, honey?"

I nodded. "Fine. It was just...really _vivid._ Not even sure it counts as a nightmare, I just..."

"What?" he frowned.

"Well, there was..." I squeezed my eyes shut, but all I could remember now was... "the sound of glass, shattering. And I just got this sense that something... Something..."

"Something?" Dad asked, looking more worried by the second.

There were tears in my eyes, and suddenly I felt afraid. So I did what I'd always done when I got scared; I hugged my Dad and cried. There was a small wet patch on his suit when my face had pressed against his chest. "I just feel like something terrible is going to happen," I choked out. "It's like the end of something precious."

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**A/N: Review please!**


	10. Chapter Nine

**A/N: Thank you for the reviews! Short chapter this time, but it was the right place to end it. My thanks go to Daisy Jane for the beta. **

**Chapter Nine**

I opened my eyes with Elizabeth's sense of dread.

She was right - something terrible _was _going to happen and it was going to happen to her. I just knew it as my mind felt like it was on fire. What was going on here? This had to be the future, no matter what Bruce thought about the idea. It was too clear, too detailed for it to be anything less than the truth. But how was I seeing the future? All of my gifts were god-given. This one couldn't be any different.

And the future meant prophecy, and prophecy meant...Apollo.

"Apollo?" Bruce asked.

I blinked, not aware of having spoken. "I think I'm seeing the future," I told him.

He raised an eyebrow. "The future? Diana, I just told you that we're not-"

"I know what you said, Bruce," I snapped impatiently. "And you can keep telling yourself that as much as you wish. Now, if I am seeing the future then Apollo will be able to tell me. So I'm going to Delphi."

"There is no oracle at Delphi anymore, Diana," he reminded me.

"No, but that's where Apollo's presence would be at its strongest," I said. "So if you'll excuse me, I have a long flight to Greece ahead of me."

"Diana, this is ridiculous-"

I stopped and turned to him with narrowed eyes. "Why is it ridiculous, Bruce?"

"Because you're flying halfway across the world based on visions that aren't true, and that cannot be the future-"

"No," I contradicted, "I am not. I'm flying halfway across the world based on hope and something that I know in my heart is real. And Elizabeth is real, Bruce, so stop looking at me like that," I added sharply. "You don't know any better. If anyone around here operates on hope, it's you. You're not just fighting the criminals, are you? You're hoping that Gotham starts helping itself as well. So yes, Bruce, I'm going because I _hope _that you're wrong. I hope that one day Elizabeth will exist, and I'm hoping that Apollo can help me stop whatever she's going through from happening."

He stopped. "What is she going through?"

"She doesn't know us," I replied simply. "We're her parents, Bruce, and she might not know that, but she knows something is missing. She knows that something terrible is happening, or about to happen. Now I want to stop whatever that is from happening to our daughter." I walked closer, put my palms on his shoulders. "Are you going to help me?"

He opened his mouth; to say no, I was sure of it - but then he sighed. "Yes. I'll help you."

I grinned. He'd just acknowledged that we had a daughter. That we would have a daughter, one day. Before he moved, I kissed him. Just once, lightly. It lasted no more than two seconds before I pulled away. "Thank you."

Then I turned to float up the stairs. "Princess - the Batwing's this way."

"I know," I smiled. "But I need to see Alfred. I'll be back in a moment."

I had to laugh when I entered the drawing room a few moments later - Alfred was staring at me in a manner almost exactly the same as Bruce's. "Your Highness! I had no idea you were here-"

"Don't trouble yourself, Alfred. I'm afraid I'm not staying long. I just wanted to give you something."

"What-"

He cut off as I embraced him, then kissed his cheek. I stepped away with a smile. "Thank you."

He blinked. "Um, you're welcome, Miss Diana."

I smiled again, and then went back down to the Cave.

* * *

_It was so dark. It was cold. It was wet. There was cold moisture dripping onto Diana's face. She couldn't move. She couldn't open her eyes. She wasn't breathing. Great Hera, why wasn't she breathing? Why couldn't she remember _how _to breathe? Finally, movement began to return to her limbs. Fingers first. First her left hand, then the right. The right met something. Something smooth, cold. Leather. _

_It clicked. _

_The plane crash. The lightning that tracked them. Elizabeth. Bruce. _

_Her eyes snapped open. Ice and glass were before her. And the leather? She swallowed. The leather meant Bruce. Suddenly she had the necessary strength. The glass shattered with barely an effort. Where were they - where were her family? _

_She was panicking so much she almost didn't notice; when she did, the frosted crystal surrounding the Dark Knight melted in sharp splinters. She reached in and grabbed her husband by his shoulders, yanking him out. _

"_Bruce! Bruce, wake up, answer me-" _

_It took another moment, but eventually he woke with the same start she had. Unlike Diana, he was shuddering with cold. His masked eyes focused on her stricken face immediately. Then he noticed the same thing she did. _

"_Eliz- Elizabeth?" he demanded through chattering teeth. _

"_I don't know," she whispered. "I don't know where she is." _

_A warm female voice spoke. "Fear not, child. She is safe." _

_

* * *

_

I bolted up, my arms flying out on either side. One of my fists smashed through the lamp on my nightstand, the crash only adding to my jumpiness. Sobs were spilling out of my mouth before I could stop them.

That same sense of dread was filling me. There was something wrong but I couldn't hold onto the dream. There was something coming. The door banged open. "Lizzie?"

"I'm okay, Daddy. Sorry," I said, "the nightmare came back again." I attempted a smile, but it didn't feel as though it was successful.

He moved over to me, sitting on the edge of the bed. "You have nothing to be sorry about, sweetheart. You can't help what you dream."

I nodded, struggling to push the tears back. I managed it, eventually, after roughly wiping my cheeks free of tears. "Still doesn't make for a good nights' sleep though, does it?"

He gestured out of the window, to where the sun was rising. "Well it looks like morning to me. So why don't we get dressed and go out, get an early breakfast?"

"Sounds good," I agreed, finding a genuine smile from somewhere.

After breakfast, I had classes. Despite the fact that Dad's comforting chatter had drastically improved my mood during the meal, I was still on edge. There was still something about the blue sky and the birds that spoke of foreboding.

It turned out I was wrong. So very, very, _very _wrong.

I got home at just before dinnertime, seeing Dad's car in the driveway. I frowned; that was odd. He wasn't normally home before six, and it was my turn to cook. Maybe the Chief had given him the afternoon off? Didn't seem like Perry White, though. Unless that headline had _really _impressed him.

I opened the door and dumped by bag on the bottom step of the stairs. "Dad? I'm home."

"In the living room, Liz. Could you come in here a second?"

I frowned. His voice sounded strained. "Dad, are you ok-"

My feet froze in place once I reached the living room doorway. My jaw dropped, and my eyes bugged.

Batman and Wonder Woman were sitting on our couch.

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**A/N: Review please!**


	11. Chapter Ten

**A/N: Thank you for the reviews! And also thank you for Daisy Jane, one of the most talented women I know and a wonderful beta :) **

**Chapter Eleven**

_It was so dark. It was cold. It was wet. There was cold moisture dripping onto Diana's face. She couldn't move. She couldn't open her eyes. She wasn't breathing. Great Hera, why wasn't she breathing? Why couldn't she remember _how _to breathe? Finally, movement began to return to her limbs. Fingers first. First her left hand, then the right. The right met something. Something smooth, cold. Leather. _

_It clicked. _

_The plane crash. The lightning that tracked them. Elizabeth. Bruce. _

_Her eyes snapped open. Ice and glass before her. And the leather? She swallowed. The leather meant Bruce. Suddenly she had the necessary strength. The glass shattered with barely an effort. Where were they - where were her family? _

_She was panicking so much she almost didn't notice; when she did, the frosted crystal surrounding the Dark Knight melted in sharp splinters. She reached in and grabbed her husband by his shoulders, yanking him out. _

"_Bruce! Bruce, wake up, answer me-" _

_It took another moment, but eventually he awakened, with the same start she had. Unlike Diana, he was shuddering with cold. His masked eyes focused on her stricken face immediately. Then he noticed the same thing she did. _

"_Eliz- Elizabeth?" he demanded through chattering teeth. _

"_I don't know," she whispered. "I don't know where she is." _

_A warm female voice spoke. "Fear not, child. She is safe." _

* * *

I opened my eyes feeling disorientated - I was trapped in some kind of small chamber - hadn't I just broken out of the coffin? My chest rose and fell faster with gasping breaths as I started to panic. I had to get out, I had to find Bruce and get Elizabeth-

I ripped off my restraints, the weave of the seatbelt shredding in my fingers. Alarms immediately began blaring in the cockpit of-

The Batwing. No coffin, and Bruce was in front of me, looking alarmed from what I could see of his face. "Princess?"

"I- I'm fine," I said shakily. "Bad dream."

"Not a vision?"

"No. Well, I guess yes but it wasn't from Elizabeth's perspective, but from mine. Still in the future," I stated. "And we're alive."

"I thought you said we were dead."

"We were, but I think that was because Elizabeth thought we were dead rather than because we actually were. Will be."

There's a pause, and I frowned as we both thought the same thing. If neither one of us really dies in that plane crash, then wouldn't Clark know? Why wouldn't he tell her the truth? Why wouldn't he have told her all along who her parents were?

"He didn't know would be my guess. It doesn't make sense. Clark doesn't lie," Bruce said. He sounded unsure for the first time.

"No," I agreed. I didn't sound sure either.

I took a deep breath. No. There had to be something else, something different than what that little streak of paranoia was telling me. And on top of that, Bruce was right. I really didn't have any idea if what I was seeing was or ever would be real. Just because the CAT scans hadn't shown anything wrong with me didn't mean there wasn't. This could be the effect of a spell cast by Circe, or one of Grodd's mind-games. There were a hundred possible reasons for me to be seeing what I was seeing. Yes, one of them _was _that it was future. I hoped it was the future - or at least that Elizabeth was the future. That Bruce and I were the future.

"How far away from Greece are we?" I asked him.

"Another few minutes," he said. "It's two a.m. local time. The ruins should be deserted."

They were. In the drenching moonlight, Delphi was beautiful. It was all too easy to imagine what it had been like. The damage to the columns could easily ignored, the silver illumination could be swapped for gold. The air might smell less of the ocean and more of incense.

I led the way inside, paused in the middle of the main chamber and closed my eyes. Slowly I lost my grip on the material world, my senses easily moving three thousand years into the past. The Pythia on her throne, inhaling the mystic vapours. Her voice deepening and distorting to the tone of Apollo. Her milky gaze blind to the world around her as she discerned a realm beyond human sight.

When I opened my eyes, Bruce was staring at me, far closer than I realized. Still half lost in my wanderings, I smiled lazily. He touched my face as if checking my temperature, then again more gently. "Diana?" he asked softly, his touch full of concern.

"It's a little like coming home," I whispered. "The temples."

He nodded. "Are there any rituals we need to follow?"

"Yes," I replied. "We need to make an offering to the Oracle - or Apollo - normally of wine and laurel leaves."

He pointed a little way up the slope behind me. "There's a laurel bush there but I don't have any wine."

"You don't carry a supply of it with everything else it the world you carry in that belt?" I smirked before continuing, "I don't think it has to be wine, any offering will do. Surely you must have something in there that you don't need right this moment."

The corner of his mouth curled up. "I'll take a look."

I grinned and took off, floating about a hundred feet up from where Bruce was. I snapped a branch from the nearest bush, the dark leaves glossy in the pale moonlight. Once I'd landed next to Batman again, I stretched out my hand.

He pressed a small bottle of alcohol gel into my hand. "Closest thing I've got."

I smiled. "It'll do. Stay here."

Leaving him a few metres behind me, I moved forward and knelt at where the altar would be. I placed the laurel and the gel down, and then bowed, touching my forehead to the cold floor. There was no need for my plea to be spoken aloud; Apollo would hear my heart and either he would decide to respond to me or not.

When the light became brighter and warmer, I knew he had. "My Lord Apollo."

"Rise, Diana."

I sat up, but remained on my knees. "Thank you for blessing me with your presence, my lord."

The golden-haired deity in front of me made a dismissive but kind gesture with his hand. "You know you are favoured on Olympus. What is it you seek?"

"I seek knowledge, my lord. I must know...the visions that I am experiencing - are they of your doing? Are they a glimpse of the future I am to share with my companion?"

He glanced at Batman; he gazed back stoically. After a moment, he looked back at me. "I know nothing of any visions, Diana. If you are experiencing them then it is not of my doing."

I frowned. It seemed impossible. They _were _the future - so how could they not, therefore, come from the god of prophecy? Apollo stepped closer, and then put his hand to my forehead. "Show me."

I closed my eyes and pictured Elizabeth, pictured everything I knew about her, about what would apparently happen to Bruce and I so soon after her birth. After a moment, Apollo pulled back, his expression troubled. "My lord?"

He sighed. "I do not know where these visions are coming from, Diana, only that they are not the product of any illness, but of an outside force influencing your mind."

"Ally or enemy?" Batman asked.

"I cannot tell," Apollo said. "Thus far they have not caused you any harm, Diana. But I have this to say, as well," he added, looking between us. "Despite the wishes of both your hearts, it would be a mistake to follow the course you are on now. You should not be together. It is the future you see, Diana and should you choose to defy me, it is what will befall you both."

With that, there was a flash of light, and he was gone. Then the dizzying blackness whirled up again, and so was I.

* * *

"Holy crap!"

Dad winced, and I shook myself. "Um, sorry, but..." I couldn't stop staring. It was insane that they should be there. "...aren't you guys supposed to be dead?"

"As good as," Batman said shortly.

"Well, uh, good to see you're not, but... _How_?" I asked.

"My goddesses," Diana explained, staring at me as wide-eyed as I was her. "They saved our lives when," she glanced at Dad, then continued, "we were attacked off-planet."

Hadn't that been twenty years ago? Why were they only here now? And if they'd been alive all this time, where had they been? There were so many different questions crowding my head that I had no idea which one to ask first. And it seemed rude to ask any of them. I'd only just met them - but I felt...angry with them. If for twenty years they'd been alive, then how could they have stayed away? How could Batman have let Gotham fall into disrepair, how could Diana have let her mother and sisters grieve like they still did - how could they have let my dad, _their best friend, _mourn them for so long-

From somewhere, the lessons about manners my grandmother had instilled in me reared their head. I was supposed to be be polite - and wherever they'd been, they were back now. And _Wonder Woman _was sitting on my couch. I returned to my original assessment. _Holy crap! _

I extended my hand. "Well, it's a pleasure to meet you both."

Diana shook my hand with a somewhat strained smile. "You too, Elizabeth."

"Oh God, Liz, please," I laughed. "Only Grandma calls me 'Elizabeth' - and usually only when I've broken something."

Batman shook my hand briefly as well - and then my cell phone buzzed as a text came through. I looked at it and cursed. Damn, I'd forgotten I was meant to be tutoring/babysitting the Wilson twins this evening. They lived on the next street. "Um, I'm really sorry to run, but I'm babysitting tonight. I guess I'll, uh, see you on the Watchtower!" I added with a grin to our surprise guests. I kissed Dad on the cheek on the way out. "Save me some dinner?"

He looked startled, like I'd just done the most shocking thing in the world, but nodded automatically. "Sure."

I left with a last smile, reassuring him that I'd be back later to talk about it; I knew my dad well enough to know when he needed to talk. If I hadn't needed to leave, I wouldn't have - the two individuals I'd just met had been his best friends. There was no way he'd be okay with them just appearing out of thin air.

On the way out of the door, I heard Batman's voice ask Dad something. His voice was almost...angry. I caught the end of the question. "...no idea, Clark?"

I stopped, frowning. Then my cell phone beeped again. I really was late by now, and though Mary Wilson was an understanding woman, she worked the late shift at a convenience store three blocks away. She couldn't really afford to be late for work. I hurried out of the door, grabbing my backpack on the way.

* * *

This time, Bruce didn't bother calling me out of the vision, but he was with me when I woke up again. It was with a frown on my face when I did. "I don't understand," I whispered.

"What did you see?" he asked me.

"Us," I replied. "You and I..._meeting _Elizabeth for the first time, and she- She had no idea who we were."

"She didn't recognize us at all?" he asked, an eyebrow quirking.

"No," I shrugged. "Well, she knew us as Batman and Wonder Woman, but not a word was said about our relationship to her, and Clark just... Just _sat there_ without saying a word either-" I shook my head. "Why would he do that? _How _could he do that?"

Until his gloved hands found mine, I hadn't realized my fists were clenched. "You need to calm down," he told me seriously. "These visions are affecting you emotionally more each time you have one. And Apollo said it was because of an outside force."

I took several deep breaths, trying to focus on the world around me and not look any longer at Elizabeth's life. "Okay," I said. "Okay, but he didn't know if it was an ally or an enemy."

"It's unlikely to be an ally, Princess," Batman pointed out. "You're dazed, disorientated and distracted. A liability if it happens in battle. This is not the tactic of someone who wants to help you."

I nodded. "Agreed. So what do we do? If Apollo is not the source of it then he cannot remove it."

"First we need to inform the other founders. No specifics, but if you suddenly collapse in the middle of the Watchtower then the League will flood with rumours."

"I should do that," I told him. "It's almost nine p.m. in Gotham. You want to get back."

He smirked, nodded. "Yes. If you have another vision, though, contact me."

I smiled. "You wouldn't be worried about me, would you, Bruce?"

He said nothing, but offered me a hand up and pulled me into his arms. He gave me a soft kiss, which surprised me until I remembered what Apollo said about not following the path of our hearts. It was typical of Bruce to defy my gods telling him what to do. I returned the kiss and pulled away, touching his face briefly. "Be safe." Then I touched my com-link. "Wonder Woman to Watchtower. One for transport."

The Question was operating the teleports, and was the first person I saw once I was beamed aboard. He was doing a crossword puzzle. I raised an eyebrow as I passed. "A little simple for you, isn't it?"

"C.I.A. encodes messages to its operatives in these things," he answered me, not looking up.

"Ah. I see. Question, do you know where-"

"In his quarters," he said, returning his attention to the crossword.

I suppressed a laugh. "Thank you."

I made my way through the Watchtower to Dormitory Deck A, knocking gently on the door to Superman's quarters. "It's Diana."

He opened the door with a smile. I returned it - and got two steps inside before I blacked out.

* * *

I walked home with my head in the clouds. I'd tried to concentrate on helping the children with their homework, but quite honestly they could have got the name of the President wrong and I wouldn't have noticed. Jesus, the world was completely different today than it had been yesterday! Two of the original Justice League founders were alive, Gotham had - or would have - Batman back-

"Ow!"

I rubbed my nose and took a step back, glaring at the front door that I'd just walked into. "Damn solid objects..." I muttered.

Fishing out my keys, I opened the door and went inside. "I'm back!"

I glanced in the living room, which was devoid of people, dead superheroes or not. "Dad?"

Nothing. Was he at work? Or had there been some kind of emergency? Seemed likely. Hungry, I moved through to the kitchen, hoping Dad had remembered to save me some food. Entering it, though, I found him in there.

He was stood facing away from me, his head down and his shoulders hunched. He looked like he was in pain. Faint alarm bells began to ring. Had he been hurt somehow?

"Dad?"

He looked up at the touch on his shoulder. I almost flinched; he had _fear _in his eyes. I'd never seen my dad scared. Not once, in all my memory. "What's wrong? There's something else, isn't there?" I searched his gaze for a hint as to what it might be, but got nothing except a vague sense of dread. "You can tell me, Daddy, I promise." I tried for an encouraging smile. It didn't feel convincing. "You can tell me anything, you know that."

He stayed quiet for a minute, but moved forward to wrap me in a hug that would have crushed me if I hadn't had half his strength. "I know," he whispered.

"So...?" I prompted gently.

He shook his head, still hugging me. "It's nothing, I promise."

That relaxed me. Daddy never promised anything he didn't mean with all his heart. I smiled against his shoulder. _Superman never lies. _After another second, he pulled away and kissed my cheek. "I'm going to turn in early tonight."

I nodded. "Alright. Sleep well, Dad."

He moved toward the stairs, and I plopped down on the couch, reaching for the TV remote. "Lizzie?"

I turned to see him stopped in the doorway. He looked sad and..._old_. "I love you, sweetheart."

I smiled. "I love you too, Daddy."

* * *

"Diana!"

When I opened my eyes with a gasp, it was to the sight of familiar blue eyes. Clark. Concerned for a friend who - as far as he knew - had just fainted. "Are you all right?" he asked.

Was I- Was I _all right_?! How in Tartarus could I be all right - he'd just passed up that opportunity to set things right, to tell _my _daughter the truth, and he'd been so selfish that-

I glared, narrow-eyed, at one of the two men who - half an hour before - I'd trusted absolutely. I hissed, "How could you?!"

Then I punched him.

**

* * *

A/N: Review please!**


	12. Chapter Eleven

**A/N: Thank you for the reviews! And thank you to Daisy Jane.**

**Chapter Eleven **

Two hours later, Clark was still rubbing his jaw.

Only part of me felt guilty. I knew was being driven slowly insane - my heart and my mind warring over which version of events was the truth. I had _seen_ my Elizabeth look to him as though he held the answers to everything. The way she should look at me, or her real father. And I had seen Kal betray that precious trust she had in him.

But equally, I knew he hadn't. He _couldn't _have, because Elizabeth doesn't exist, at least not yet. She is unborn, a little pair of haploid cells that exist, one in me and one in Bruce. Clark hadn't betrayed anyone's trust, not ours and not hers. He never would - he was my best friend, he was Bruce's best friend, he was...the third part of us, or the first, or the second. We were the trinity and we watched each other's backs and he couldn't be our downfall. He was not anything less than... Superman.

He hadn't fought back, of course. But he'd barely managed to restrain me from doing him serious harm. For a while I really _did _want to kill him - he'd betrayed me, Bruce; most importantly he'd betrayed Elizabeth. That was enough to make blind rage fuel my limbs. It took GL to remove my hands from around Superman's neck, and even then nothing calmed me. Not until Clark left and returned to the Watchtower with Batman did I settle down.

Bruce turned to John and commanded, "Let her go."

The green bubble dissipated, and Clark took a step back. I shot a glare at him, and probably would have taken another shot at him, but Bruce's hand on mine stopped me. "Enough, Diana."

I turned away, lowered my voice and spoke through gritted teeth. "He didn't tell her. And it's no good telling me it's not that Kal, Batman, I know that." I bit my lip, feeling and denying the heat at my eyes. "I feel as though I'm being torn apart, mentally and emotionally."

"Then put yourself back together," he said roughly. "This is going to tear the League apart, you know it is."

I nodded. And that could be exactly what whoever it was wanted. They were trying to polarize the League, and separating the three of us was the way to do it. "Yes. It just... It's so _real_."

"It _isn't_."

"I know." I started to move toward Clark again, this time to apologize, but then hesitated. "Should we tell him?"

A muscle in his jaw clenched. "We have no choice. United we stand. He needs to know what's going on."

I nodded, and we looked over at Clark. He'd heard every word we'd said, of course, and walked over to us. The guilt at his tense and wary expression was a little stronger this time.

"I'm sorry, Clark," I apologized.

"It's okay, Diana, I know there's a good reason for it. I would really like to know what it is," he added hopefully.

I sighed, and we both followed Bruce to the conference room. Once the doors were shut, I said bluntly, "I'm seeing the future."

"The future?"

"Yes, and it's been confirmed by Apollo. And what I'm seeing...is our daughter."

There was a moment of uncertainty then, and it really hit me. She really was _our _daughter - mine, Bruce's and Clark's. We were all of us her parents, even if one of us had no right to be.

"The daughter of Bruce and I," I amended emphatically, glaring once more.

"Jeez, Diana, what did I _do_?" he snapped. "_I'm _the one with laser beam eyes, remember? Why are you looking at me like you want to kill me?"

Bruce took over before I could yell back. "You're the one who raised her," he said flatly. "In the future, Diana and I will be almost killed in a plane crash. And our baby daughter-"

If Clark's eyes got any wider, he'd be rivaling most dinner plates. "You two are-?"

"Apparently."

"Wow. I owe Wally fifty bucks."

It unexpectedly breaks the tension between Clark and I whilst simultaneously increasing it between he and Bruce. I chuckle softly, and he grins. "I really am sorry, Clark."

He squeezes my hand affectionately. "I know. Just...tell me what happens?"

"Well, due to our 'deaths', you raise Elizabeth. But you raise her without telling her who her real parents are." I shrug. "We don't know why. But then Bruce and I come _back _through the power of my goddesses, and...you still refuse to tell her. I... I hit you because I saw you give up the opportunity to tell her the truth. Deliberately. You lied to her, Clark. You betrayed my daughter's trust in you."

The anger hasn't made its way back into my tone, but my words are bleak. I know the future isn't set in stone, but at this point I can't see it happening any other way. He _will _lie to her and if he will, then he already has. He's already made the decision to. I just need to understand the reason why.

But then maybe I already know it.

"_Lizzie? I love you, sweetheart." _

"_I love you too, Daddy." _

I put my hand over my eyes and turn away. "Oh Hera, Clark..."

"What is it?" both of them asked.

I smiled sadly and then looked at my best friend. "I just realized. If you've raised her from a baby then of course she's your daughter. Especially since she doesn't _know _she's not-" I cut off, frustration rising again. "But _why _doesn't she know? Why wouldn't you tell her?" I asked.

He stared at me. "Diana, how am I supposed to answer that?"

I shook my head, not knowing either. All I did know was that I needed the truth from _someone_.

Clark was speaking to Bruce. "Have you come up with any suspects?"

"None yet, but obviously any enemy of the League with the ability to influence minds is a possibility. Grodd, for instance, is one we have to consider."

Kal nodded. "I'll get J'onn to look into it. How many of these visions are you having?"

"They come and go, but I pass out almost every time. And I see everything as Elizabeth does. But something's going to happen, and soon." I swallow, feeling like the Oracle of Delphi myself. "She has to find out soon. And...I don't know what will happen when she does."

"Can you find out?" Clark asked.

Bruce narrowed his eyes. "Don't even try it. You have no idea what kind of dangers you're opening your mind to when the visions come - doing it voluntarily could be extraordinarily perilous. I won't allow it."

The corner of my mouth curled up. "We're not even married yet and already you're giving me orders? Careful, Batman."

"Honour and obey, Princess," he muttered with the flash of a grin. "Honour and obey."

"It's now honour and cherish, Bruce. Move into the twenty-first century, caveman," I smirked back at him, the chemistry between us starting to rise again.

Our smiles quickly faded when Clark cleared his throat, now beet-red. He was looking everywhere but at the two of us. I coloured slightly. "Sorry, Clark. I-"

* * *

"Tammy, hold my hand while we're crossing the road, sweetie," I told the little girl at my side firmly.

She nodded and took my outstretched arm as we came to the edge of the sidewalk. The library was just on the other side of the road. "Now how do we cross the road?" I asked her.

"We have to look both ways," she began.

"Yes."

We did so, and there was nothing coming.

"Is it safe to cross now?" I asked, feinting a step forward.

I smiled as she tightened her grip on my hand, and I let her pull me to a stop. "No, Lizzie, you have to stop! We have to _listen_ too!"

I grinned. "Well done!"

Seeing that it was safe, we crossed the road to the library, and entered. I was actually looking forward to this.

Tammy Wilson needed to study up on, of all people, Diana of Themyscira. And since meeting her three days ago, there was little else I'd wanted to do either. The internet was great, but there was only so much it could tell you - and typing the words 'Wonder Woman' into Google had come up with more than twenty million results, and even had I had my dad's speed, there was no way I could have searched through all of them. Wikipedia had given me the bare bones, of course, as it had tried to with Batman. But unlike with Diana, Batman's page had had nothing except 'possibly an urban myth'. Well, if he was an urban myth, then he was very solid and had quite a firm grip.

And anyway, I wasn't really all that interested in Batman. Sure, he was a mystery, but frankly, I knew my limits. And to figure out Batman, I really would need to be the _World's Greatest Detective. _Diana, though, I was sure would be a far easier book to read. Well maybe not easy but definitely more enjoyable. I could talk to her, of course, but while I'd love to, I felt woefully ignorant. She was everything I aspired to be, and I needed to know something about her before I was able to hold my end of a conversation.

Tammy's interest was decidedly less invested - her class was doing a project on strong female figures in history, and Tammy had picked Wonder Woman. So I was taking her to the library to research.

Once in there, we went down to the newspaper archives and dug out all the old copies of the _Planet _we could. They were all old, of course, at least twenty years old. After that there were no articles about Wonder Woman. She was just alluded to in them. Tammy was too little to carry much, so I carried the majority of them - far more than I should have been able to do, but Tammy was too small to understand the weight a young woman should or shouldn't be able to carry. It turned out there was so much that it would be impossible for Tammy to cover it all in the fifteen-minute time slot she'd been allocated for her presentation.

"Why don't we focus on the beginning of her work with the Justice League and the...end?" I suggested.

"Okay," she nodded. "I'll start at the beginning, and you have a look at the last year, okay?"

"Of course," I nodded.

We studied in silence for a while, though sometimes I would help Tammy with a word or two that she didn't understand. Which was surprisingly few. She was a very smart kid. I meanwhile, immersed myself in the last two years of her life. This morning, Dad and I had talked more about the two of them, and something surprising had come up – Wonder Woman and Batman had been together. More than that, they were actually married. Well, Diana and whoever he was under the mask had been and their real 'deaths' had been in a plane crash.

I flicked through the huge book of _Planet _pages until I came to what I was looking for, the death of Wonder Woman and Batman. Though it told me nothing but the official line - that they'd died in a mission off world. I knew that wasn't true. I couldn't, of course, tell Tammy that.

I bookmarked the pages that would help her with her presentation, then stood. "I'm just going to surf the Internet, okay, Tammy? I'll be just over there. Call me if you need anything."

She nodded. "Okay, Lizzie."

The computers were a matter of twenty feet away, so that Tammy wouldn't be out of my sight. I booted it up and then brought up Google, hesitating. I wouldn't find anything about their real deaths on the web, no matter how detailed my search. I twisted my mouth and then typed in what I really wanted to know.

A few moments later, I was staring in awe at what had come up. In the _Gotham Gazette _online archive was a front page from twenty-two years ago. The headline screamed in both joy and incredulousness. _Gotham Playboy Getting Hitched At Last! _I didn't recall hearing that Bruce Wayne had been married.

The full-colour photograph was of Bruce Wayne, standing with his bride with both of them beaming at one another. And the woman - if you replaced blonde hair with black, and green eyes with blue - looked _very _like Wonder Woman.

"Holy _crap_..." I breathed.

My thoughts landed on Alfred. He hadn't just been butler to Bruce Wayne, he'd been butler to _Batman_. Bruce Wayne was _Batman_! It bore saying again. "Holy crap!"

I kept clicking. It made perfect sense. At the same time Batman and Wonder Woman had 'died', Bruce Wayne and his wife had been 'killed' in a plane crash. My brows came together as I frowned it confusion. I was sure I read or saw somewhere that he'd had a heart attack during a...fit of decadence. Of course I could have just heard rumors and innuendo as before today Bruce Wayne had only remotely been on my radar.

What I clicked on next made me freeze for a moment in shock. Almost two years after their wedding day, there was another article. _Gotham Welcomes New Princess_. They'd had a baby girl. I didn't know that - where was she now? Had she _actually_ died? Poor Diana. Poor Bruce.

Then I read her name. Elizabeth.

I shivered as if someone had just walked over my grave. Then there was another niggling sensation at the back of my mind. What, exactly, were Diana's powers? I cast my mind back to Wikipedia, but couldn't remember the details. So I called to Tammy.

"Tammy, sweetie? What were her powers?"

She screwed her face up in concentration, then flicked through until she found the right one. "Um...she could fly, heal _real _fast and was super-strong."

My mouth went dry. My heartbeat roared in my ears. Oh God. No. No way. But she'd been born on the same day as me. And...Alfred had lived on my street for as long as I could remember. And...the way Diana had _stared _at me. And...kryptonite didn't affect me when it should-

No.

"_No_!"

My shout echoed across the library, earning me several glares and a lot of 'shhhhhhhs!' Tammy looked up, frowning. "Lizzie! It's a library, we have to be _quiet_!"

"Sorry," I said automatically, still staring.

But I wasn't sorry. I needed to do it again. I needed to sob, scream, and yell.

And I couldn't even breathe.

My fingers were moving before I realized it, printing off both of the articles. "Tammy, we're leaving."

"Oh, but I'm not finished!"

"You are, Tammy. You've got all you need, and I've got to get home."

I dropped Tammy off to a bewildered Mary Wilson without even an apology. Then I had to stop myself from flying home. Instead I ran home as fast as I could. It was only five in the evening. He wouldn't be home until at least six. I couldn't stop reading the pieces of paper in my hands, over and over again until my fingers were stained with ink.

At six exactly, my father arrived home. And found me sitting at the kitchen table, staring at the surface in front of me.

"Hey, Liz. How was your day? Work was crazy, the Chief is thinking about sending Lois and I to Somalia for this story we're working on about international arms dealing, and I'm struggling really hard not to tell him that it's a total waste of time, and it's the Russians we should be-" He stopped, then the next time he spoke, his voice was tinged with concern. "Liz? You're very quiet. Did something happen at college?"

I still couldn't say anything.

He pulled out a chair and sat next to me. "Elizabeth? Are you okay?"

"Um... While I was at Conner's, Tammy - you know, his little sister - as doing a school project about strong female figures in history. And she picked Wonder Woman. Mary let her go to the library with me, and we looked up Wonder Woman's powers," I said.

"Liz-"

"Funny, though," I continued, as if he'd not spoken, "because when we looked, turned out that Wonder Woman's powers match mine...exactly. And then I remembered what you'd told me about Batman and Wonder Woman being a couple. So I went to Google, I typed in 'marriage', 'Diana' and 'Gotham' - and this was the top result," I said, sliding the first newspaper cutting across the table, and still not looking at him. "And then I kept clicking until I found this..." My voice failed me as I slid the other cutting to him, finally looking up.

He looked like he'd rather be looking away, but didn't. A tear slipped down one of my cheeks as I whispered, "Tell me I'm wrong, Daddy."

He didn't say anything, and more tears came as I carried on, begging him now. "Tell me it's my overactive imagination, tell me I'm being paranoid, that it's ridiculous- Daddy, _please_."

I wasn't the only one crying when he shook his head. "I can't."

My head went down, and I forced my tears away. It wasn't difficult, not with the amount of anger that was beginning to stir. When he reached for my hand, I snatched it back before he could touch me, not wanting to be anywhere near him.

"How could you?" I spat. "How _could_ you?"

"Lizzie, I never wanted to lie to you-"

"Then why did you?!"

"It was for your safety," he said earnestly. "Liz, you have to believe me-"

"Why should I?" I shot back. "I've been believing you all my life, and you've lied to me _my entire life_!"

"I know."

The sadness - and acceptance - in his voice just made me angrier. "God, I'm such an idiot. That's why, isn't it?" I asked, still not able to look at him. "The real reason Kryptonite doesn't affect me, and why- How could I not have seen it- Thatshould have tipped me off, let alone the way Hippolyta _looked _at me-"

He put a hand on my shoulder, and it burned. "Don't. Just don't."

Without another word, I left the house, slamming the door on the way as I went. Once in the yard, I took off, having no idea where I was flying to.

* * *

**A/N: Review please!**


	13. Chapter Twelve

**A/N: First thing's first - Merry Christmas! And second, thank you to Daisy Jane, my wonderful beta and friend :) Enjoy!**

**Chapter Twelve **

I chased the sunset west, not stopping to rest, or drink or anything. Just flying. I was too late to catch the sunset in the end, and I was flying in darkness. Dawn caught up to me when I finally began to look down at the ground. When I recognised the neat patchwork of fields below me, I laughed.

Kansas. And not even that far from Smallville. _God must hate me. _Or rather, Diana's gods must. Whoever they were.

Knowing that I needed to stop at some point, or I'd reach Vegas, I headed for the farm. It wasn't till I landed that I realised I was crying. I knew Grandma had betrayed me too, but for some reason it wasn't as...raw as _his _was. After all, all that had happened to her was that her son turned up on the doorstep with a baby. It wasn't her fault.

I pushed open the door with tears running down my cheeks; Grandma was already in the kitchen and pulling me into her arms. "Oh thank Heaven you're safe!" she breathed. "Your father called me with no idea where-"

Tears turned into reckless sobs almost immediately. All I wanted to do was hug her with everything I had in me, but I knew I couldn't. Through lack of anything else to do, I sank to my knees. Grandma came with me, and held me until I'd cried myself out. My breath still shuddered with dry sobs. "I-It's a l-lie, Nanna, it- it's all a _lie_-"

She shook her head, smoothing my hair from my face. "No, honey, it's not."

"H-How can you say that?" I shook my head, tears that shouldn't be there still coming up. "D-Daddy's n-not supposed to lie, Nanna, I thought he'd n-never lie to me, but my whole _life _has been a lie! How c-could he just-"

"Oh honey, he..."

Apparently recognising that there was nothing she could say that wouldn't make me flee, Grandma stopped, and stroked down my hair, making hushing noises. Finally I drew back. "C-can I stay here tonight, Grandma? Please, I can't go back to Metropolis."

"Of course you can," she said kindly. "Absolutely." She helped me up, took my hand and led me into the living room. "Sit down, and I'll make some hot chocolate, huh?"

She was treating me as though I was six years old. I didn't mind. Right now I'd give anything to be six years old again, knowing for a _certainty _who I was. Sandwiched between my daddy and my nanna, watching Disney movies over Thanksgiving. A fresh wave of tears threatened as I realised that was never going to happen again. Admittedly, it hadn't for a decade, but even the opportunity was gone now.

Then I realised I could hear Grandma talking. Of course she'd call him and tell him where I was. I went cold - he'd want to come here, if he wasn't already on his way, and talk more- and talking more was _not _something I could handle right now.

I moved to the kitchen doorway. "Grandma. Put. The phone. Down."

The tone of my voice was completely alien to me. I'd never been cold before. Angry, yes, but that was _hot _rage. This was...icy. Was that Bruce or Diana, I wondered?

Whichever one of my _parents _it came from, it was obviously as strange to Grandma as it was to me. She froze, but didn't move. I could hear his voice over the phone, tiny and tinny. She covered the receiver. "Honey, he just wants to talk to you."

"He's lost any right to even _see _me again. I'll decide when he can talk to me. Put the phone down."

Without breaking eye contact with me, she lifted the phone back up to her mouth. "Clark, I have to go. No, you don't."

I turned away, heading upstairs. I heard her say, "Just give her time, Clark. Just give her time."

I scoffed through my tears. Give me time? How did either of them imagine that _time _was going to make it better? It wouldn't take away the fact that my whole life, I'd been lied to. I'd been betrayed by the one person-

I stopped that thought, and swiped away my tears. I would not waste anymore tears on that man. He was out of my life. I didn't want him _in_ my life ever again.

I didn't seem to have convinced anyone, though, least of all myself. Because when I lay down on the bed that was too small for me, every inch of me was shuddering with sobs.

* * *

When I opened my eyes, I didn't hesitate; I threw myself onto Bruce, crying as much as my daughter was, so very far away from me. My little girl - she was hurting and crying and heartbroken, and I couldn't get to her, I couldn't-

The soft brush of fingers through my hair calmed me slightly; the arms wrapped around my waist more so. The exposed part of his face was pressed against my cheek, his mouth was close to my ear.

"What was it?" he asked in an undertone.

"She knows," I whispered. "She knows, and it's broken her heart."

It took me a few more minutes, but eventually the sobs stopped shaking me. It was harder than it had been before - I wasn't just feeling Elizabeth's lingering emotions, I was consumed with my own need to comfort her, to hold her in my arms and tell her that everything would be okay. My mind flashed back to moments like that in my own childhood, with Mother embracing me when I was afraid or sad. No child should ever have to be alone with despair such as Elizabeth was suffering. I only prayed that Martha Kent would hear her sobs, and go upstairs, hold my daughter where I could not.

"How did she find out?" Bruce asked, once he'd handed me a tissue procured from his belt.

"She found that our powers - mine and hers - were identical, and then she researched online until she worked out your identity and that we'd been married." She managed a weak smile. "You'd be proud of her, Bruce."

"Where is she now?"

"Smallville. She flew to the farm after arguing with you, Clark."

Clark looked as though he was developing a strong headache. "Okay, so has he... Have _I _told her _why _I didn't tell her who her real parents are?"

"No," I shook my head, really wishing Elizabeth had given him a chance to explain. He'd clearly wanted to. But then, I reflected, I probably would have had the same reaction. I certainly hadn't given Shayera a chance to explain after the Thanagarian invasion. Betrayal was not something I dealt with well - it seemed as though my daughter had inherited my intolerance for disloyalty.

I sighed, running my hands roughly through my hair. "She's so distraught. The rage I expected, but the despair...is hard to control."

We were silent for a while, Bruce's fingers still wrapped around mine. Finally Clark sighed. "So what happens now? She knows the truth, does that mean that you won't see anymore of the future?"

"I have no idea," I answered honestly. "If this were being caused by Apollo, then I'd assume there was some kind of lesson I'm meant to be learning here."

"But he already denied that," Bruce put in. "Could he be lying? It wouldn't be the first time your gods have manipulated mortals for their own ends."

I frowned somewhat angrily. I was well-aware of the legends of my gods here in Man's World, and I knew most of them to be false. Yes, the cruelty and malice of Ares, Eris, et al were well known, and reflected true in the tales people still told. But Athena, Aphrodite? Hera, especially, I'd found to be grossly misrepresented here.

"No," I replied firmly. "Apollo and Artemis are closely bound - they are twins. And Artemis is a patron of mine. She would never allow her brother to deceive me like that. And if it isn't Apollo, then there's no way to know what's going to happen next."

Bruce looked at Superman. "Get J'onn. I want to know where these visions are coming from and why."

Clark nodded, and left the room. I looked enquiringly at Bruce. If he'd wanted J'onn then we could have just called him telepathically. "What is it?" I asked.

"I'm worried," he said frankly. "Whoever is doing this to you is starting to do real damage."

I reached out to him. "Bruce, I'm fine-"

He pushed back the cowl, put a gloved hand under my chin and made me look him dead in the eye. "How are you feeling now, Princess?"

"I'm..." Seeing the futility of lying to him, I huffed out a sigh. "I feel heartbroken."

"Exactly. And you attacked Superman earlier, because you were still caught in the vision. This _could _be an attempt to divide the League, but equally it could be a personal attack on you. A way to splinter your mind."

"You don't think I'm strong enough to repel something like that?" I asked, my pride prickling.

He smiled gently. "I think you're the strongest woman in the world, Diana. But this isn't like anything that's ever happened to you before. You don't know how you're going to deal with it."

He had a point, though I didn't want to admit it in any way. "Alright. If J'onn can find something in my head, a trace of whoever's doing this to me, I'll let you help me hunt them down."

His eyebrow quirked. "Oh you'll 'let me'?"

I grinned, stepped closer. "Yes. And that's the best you're getting, so-"

He kissed me, quickly and fiercely, pulling away and replacing his cowl just as the doors slid open, admitted J'onn and Kal. I, of course, was still breathing obviously quickly, my heart thundering, whereas he looked like his normal perfectly-composed self. _I hate that he can do that..._

A few minutes later, we were sat at the conference room table, J'onn standing above me with both hands on my temple. "Relax, Diana, and try and let your mind go blank."

I nodded, closing my eyes and drawing on the meditation lessons that had been instilled in me from a child. It worked; my mind calmed, settling into a kind of pristine whiteness in which nothing could bother me. Suddenly though, a black flash of pain sizzled across my head, causing me to reel back, away from my friend's touch.

At the same time, I heard J'onn scream.

* * *

**A/N: Review please!**


	14. Chapter Thirteen

**A/N: Thanks for the reviews! And thank you to the wonderful Daisy Jane for her beta. **

**Chapter Thirteen**

It took J'onn over ten minutes to regain consciousness after his attempt to access my mind. Bruce, in his typical way, did not give him time to regain his bearings before cross-examining him.

"What did you learn? Is it an outside force? Magical or not?"

"Bruce!" Clark and I both admonished together.

Glaring at us both, Batman backed off as I slid an arm behind J'onn's shoulders and helped him to sit up. "I'm so sorry, J'onn. Are you alright?"

He nodded. "I am." Seeing my worry, he smiled. "Don't worry, Diana, it wasn't your fault, but that experience has drained me. I need to rest soon. I feel…weak."

There was blue blur, then another; when Clark got back from the commissary, he had a packet of Oreos in his hand. J'onn ate two or three gratefully before he spoke again. "In answer to your question, Batman, there is an outside force interfering with Diana's mind, and as far as I can tell it is that which is inducing these visions."

"Magical? A telepathic being?"

J'onn shook his head. "I was unable to determine that. There was a voice, and it was female. She warned me that what she is doing is for Diana's own good. That it was to spare her future pain."

"Future pain?" I questioned. "Elizabeth has just had her heart broken, and I can still feel that. This isn't a question of _future_ pain."

I bit my lip as I thought of another possibility. Glancing at Bruce, it seemed the more probable too. What if this person, whoever she was, was projecting an illusion? That these visions weren't the future, but a dystopic version of it, intended to drive a wedge between Bruce and myself? I knew Bruce; it hardly seemed likely that he'd be in a rush to have a child with me, but now that we were…whatever we were, there was a stronger possibility of it than ever before. What if whoever it was in my head wanted to avoid that? J'onn would know about Bruce and I by now, but Clark still had no idea. Deciding to keep my speculations to myself until Bruce and I were alone, I focused on what Batman was asking.

"Did you recognize the mental signature?"

"No," J'onn answered. "But her immediate reaction was not to hurt me or Diana. She warned me away from Diana before apparently being forced to use pain as a deterrent. Whoever she is, she is a stronger telepath than I have ever come across. There was no chance of my being able to pass the block she had set up around your mind, Diana."

"So why bother causing both of you pain?" Superman frowned.

"I had the impression it was more a matter of…impatience."

"Impatience," Bruce repeated, a meaningful look at me. "Are you still so sure it can't be your gods?"

"Yes," I said emphatically. "Apollo denied it, and of all the gods, he is the only one able to interfere by bringing the future forward like this. I know my own gods better than you do, Batman."

He nodded shortly. "We need to begin research on telepathic women who might have a motive for targeting you, Diana. Compile a list of your enemies; anyone who might have a grudge."

"Will do."

"After you've done that, I need a beta list of anyone without telepathy, just in case. Got it?"

"Yes."

He turned to Superman. "Help her. And do it in the med-bay. If there are more visions then I want to know what this woman is doing to Diana. If you're already in the infirmary then we can do a CT scan while you're in there."

"Doesn't that involve me lying very still?" I asked.

"You don't thrash about when you have a vision, Princess," Bruce replied. "And this is important."

I sighed. "Alright. But I can't promise I'm going to be still when I wake up. There's a big chance I'll damage the equipment."

"If you have a vision, Kent will call me," Bruce quelled.

I wasn't sure if he meant it to be comforting; his voice was pretty irritated. It made one corner of my mouth curl up. I knew he was worried about me, and the truth was I did find him being there comforting. And I found the fact that he wanted to be there too adorable — though no chance I was going to tell him that. All that would get me was a glare and a departing back.

Clark and I headed to the infirmary; every computer onboard the Watchtower connected to the League central database, so it was a simple matter of going through the list of League enemies we had on file. We'd gone through every single female telepath I'd ever defeated, and come up empty.

Before I went to widen the search, Clark's hand on mine stopped me. "I'm sorry."

I looked at him. "For what?"

"For what I did to Elizabeth. For what I might have done. What I might do, I-"

I cut him off, shaking my head. "You have absolutely nothing to apologies for, Clark. This is twenty years in the future, and we don't even know if it _is _the future. It could be some twisted plot to disrupt the League. That's certainly what Batman thinks."

He sighed. "I guess. But I'm not sure I can believe that. It's not what you think, is it?"

"No," I admitted. "I believe I am seeing the future, and I believe that Elizabeth is my daughter."

"Which means you also believe I'll lie to her-"

"No," I interrupted. "I believe you've never betrayed my trust, Clark. And I believe that even if you do, then you'll have a damn good reason for doing so. I haven't seen what it is ye-"

* * *

My head ached. I wasn't sure what time I'd drifted off to sleep; I was still crying whenever it was. Now I wasn't. Now I just felt empty.

I grabbed the glass of water off my nightstand and gulped it down quickly. It helped a little to ease the pain, but it did nothing to increase my desire to get out of bed. How could he? Letting out a growl, I ground my teeth. I needed to stop asking that question. It didn't matter. I didn't care. It wasn't going to change anything.

I got up and showered with robotic motions, only then realizing I had nothing to wear. Grandma seemed to have thought of that while I was in the shower, and there was a folded shirt on the bed. I put my jeans back on and picked it up. It was obviously way too big for me; one of- An old one that he'd left here. Scowling, I put it on anyway. There was nothing else I could wear after all.

I didn't want to eat, but knowing full well that Grandma would force chocolate chip pancakes down my throat if she had to, I went downstairs to eat them voluntarily. Less chance of choking that way. When I got into the kitchen, though, Grandma looked nervous and uneasy.

"Honey, you have a visitor."

My fists clenched. "I do _not_ want to see-"

"It's not Clark."

"Then who-"

In answer to my question, someone cleared his throat from behind me. I turned to see Batman. We stared at each other for an unbearably long time. It had been only a little over twenty-four hours since we'd last seen one another - but in that time, everything had changed. He wasn't just some myth brought to life anymore. This man was my _father_-

"We need to talk," he said, tone inexorable.

I looked down, squeezing my eyes shut. Whose case was he here to plead? I gestured at the backdoor. "Outside."

I walked from the house until we were sat on the fence at the edge of the endless cornfield. Clearing my throat, I spoke. "Look, I... I know this isn't your fault, but I really don't want to talk, so..."

"Who says I do _want _to?" he asked suddenly.

I blinked, and then glared. He didn't seem phased; the first person I'd ever met who could do that. My mouth turned down at the corners. _Guess I know where I got that from... _Finally losing my patience, I snapped, "So you're just going to...stare at me?"

His mouth quirked into a smirk, momentarily at least. "Actually, I wanted to ask you something."

"What?" I grunted, now looking away.

At his sigh, I turned back. He didn't seem like the kind of man who sighed a lot. "Don't cut Diana out of your life."

I ran my hands through my hair, feeling like I wanted to tear the strands out. "Diana's never been _in _my life - how can I cut her out?"

"Alright," he amended. "Let her into your life."

I looked away, and then back again with my own sigh. "Well what about you?" I demanded. "You don't care if I don't let you in?"

"That's up to you," he said after a pause that answered my question without words.

He cared. Of course he cared. And how could I refuse to get to know them - as Batman and Wonder Woman if not as my-

"It's funny," I murmured, more to myself than to him, "you should hear the way Dad-"

My throat unexpectedly closing, I cut off. It took a couple of hard swallows before I could continue. "I can't call him that, can I? Not anymore. So is it Clark from now on? Or does he normally prefer 'Kal-El'?" I chuckled mirthlessly. "Oh, God..."

"He's a good man," Bruce said softly.

I glared. "I've lived with him for the past twenty years - you don't think I know that? He's Superman for fuck's sake. I know he's a good man."

"But you're still going to cut all contact?"

"I don't know," I answered. "Right now I have no idea what I'm going to do. Unless you'd care to offer me some advice?"

"It's not my place to," he replied, standing. "I should go. I have to get back to Gotham."

"Yeah," I nodded, "guess you do. Twenty years without you hasn't done it much good."

"Please think about what I said," he said in farewell. "Diana... She wants to know you. She wants to-"

"Be my mother?" I asked, whispering. Somehow that scared me more than anything. Whatever happened with- I knew how to have a father, even if he was now Bruce. I didn't know how to have a mother - especially since all my life, my mother had been described as one person...and she wasn't Diana.

I took a deep, watery breath. "I'll think about it, Bruce."

He nodded once, and then disappeared in a burst of white teleport beam.

Once he was gone, I got off the fence and started walking. I didn't bother with flight; I wanted to walk until my feet were bleeding, until my legs ached and I was sun burnt. Maybe physical pain would help somehow. So I did. I walked through the corn in a straight line, got wet from the irrigation, so thirsty my tongue was swollen and my stomach ached from hunger. I didn't stop.

I didn't stop until there was a red and blue blur in the sky, heading for me. That made me take flight and head back to the farm. Stupidly, it took me almost half the journey to realize there was no _possible _way for me to outrun or out fly him. Not unless I was channeling Uncle Wally.

When I got to the barn roof, I stopped, folding my arms across my chest. Whatever happened, I _would not cry_. He wasn't worth my tears. He'd obviously been slowing himself down on purpose, but once I'd stopped, he landed in front of me.

"What do you want?" I asked tightly.

"Just to talk to you," he said pleadingly. "Lizzie, please..."

"Please _what_?" I demanded. "Please don't be angry? Please don't stop speaking to you? Please don't feel completely betrayed? I think I've earned that right," I seethed.

"I know you have, sweetheart, but-"

"Don't 'sweetheart' me!" I snarled.

He stopped, sighed. "I'm trying to explain, Liz, but things won't get better until you let me."

"Explain away," I said dully.

"There was a curse, placed on any Amazon who left Themyscira to start a family."

"Diana left to be Wonder Woman, not to shack up with Batman," I interrupted. "That happened as a consequence, not the cause."

"But it still happened," he replied. "And when it happened, the curse was activated. It was Apollo, one of Diana's gods, who cast it originally. I don't know if he actually caused the plane crash, but both Bruce and Diana were badly injured in it. Your crash-seat saved your life."

I didn't want to listen to this. I didn't want to be given a reason that made it okay. "So how are Bruce and Diana alive?"

"Diana's patron goddesses. They intervened, but to save them from future reprisals, Bruce and Diana were..."

"Put on ice?"

"Yes."

"That still doesn't explain why you've _lied _to me my entire life!"

"I had no choice. If you knew you had Amazon blood, suspected it even for a second, then you'd be at risk. The curse would come after you as well. You'd have been destroyed, Liz. And I didn't...enjoy lying to you, but..." He stopped, sighed. "I won't pretend I didn't... like being your father. I loved having a daughter, I loved seeing you walk for the first time, talk, I loved that I was the one who got to take you to your first day of school. It was easy to make myself believe it. Some days... Most days, I forgot. I let myself forget."

I swallowed, fighting hard to keep hold of my anger. "What changed?" Damn it, my voice was betraying the building sobs. I cleared my throat. "Why am I no longer in danger, why are Bruce and Diana free now?"

There was very sad pause. "Because you're of age. That's what- That's what I was told. That when you became of age in the Amazon culture you'd be free of the curse. You all would."

End of deception. End of lying. End of both our lives as we knew them. But if I was 'free', then that meant he was too. That meant he could do what he wanted to, not what was right by me.

"She's Lois, isn't she?" I asked abruptly.

He frowned. "What?"

"My mother. Or, the woman you told me was my mother. The way you described her, that look you got in your eyes when you talked about her. It's Lois, isn't it?"

"Lizzie..."

"A yes or no will do, Superman."

"Yes," he said finally. "I loved Lois. I still do."

I nodded, feeling sick. _That's it_. That was why Lois resented me, why Dad was so unhappy. Because he'd taken loyalty to his friends over his own happiness. He'd raised me, and in doing so, given up everything else.

I didn't look at him, but I didn't leave either. "Then it's my fault," I said quietly.

His voice was aghast. "Lizzie, how could it possibly-"

"Well isn't it?" I demanded. "Face it, if I hadn't been around then you would have told Lois and lived happily ever after. You didn't because of me. You had no choice to lie to me because of your duty to Diana and Bruce, you're too good a man not to raise me as your own-"

He put his hands on my shoulders and turned me around to face him. "Liz, how can you believe the only reason I was your father was because of them? Because of duty?"

I shrugged helplessly, looking away and refusing to acknowledge the tears in my eyes. "Lois should be the mother of your children. I should never have come between you. I'm not yours - I shouldn't... I shouldn't _be_."

He lifted my chin and made me look at him. "Hate me for the rest of your life, Liz, I deserve it. But _never _believe that I don't love you. Or that you won't always be my daughter."

The tears spilled over. I couldn't say or think anything. I didn't look him in the eye either, just stared vaguely at the emblem on his chest. "I... I need to...think," I said finally, wiping my cheeks roughly. "You need to go."

"Liz-"

"Please, just... Please," I whispered.

There was nothing but silence for a moment, and I didn't react when he kissed my forehead. Then he did as I'd asked, and flew away. I sat back down on the roof and sobbed.

* * *

**A/N: Review please!**


	15. Chapter Fourteen

**A/N: Thank you for DaisyJane for the beta, and thank you for the reviews. **

**Chapter Fourteen**

"Elizabeth?"

I sighed. "Up here, Grandma!"

I watched as she walked out into the yard until she reached an angle where she could see up onto the roof. I waved half-heartedly.

She sighed and planted her hands on her hips, shaking her head. "Just like your father," she said finally.

I gave a grim smile. "My father... Which one's that, Grandma?"

Her voice and expression gentled. "Come down, honey. I made pumpkin soup."

Despite myself, the corner of my mouth curled up. After a few seconds, I jumped off the roof to land smoothly on my feet. "Can't really turn down pumpkin soup, can I?"

She smiled and took my hand. "Best in town."

By the time we'd finished the gently spiced soup and the cornbread that went with it, I knew I had to leave. As much as I wanted to stay in Smallville, in safety and in hiding for the rest of my life, I couldn't do it. Elizabeth Kent no longer existed. There were things _I_ needed to do now, and people _I_ needed to talk to. Starting with my mother.

When Grandma asked me where I was going, I didn't say home. I _was _going to Metropolis, but to the Metrotower, and from there I'd find Wonder Woman, and go talk to her.

She hugged me as I left, tightly. "Don't be a stranger," she said, not even attempting to be lighthearted about it.

I shook my head earnestly. "Never. I'll see you soon, Grandma."

"Alright. Take care, Elizabeth."

It wasn't a long flight back to Metropolis, and I didn't bother trying to be sneaky about it. I was pretty sure Superman had gotten the message about me needing time and space before I was ready to talk to him again. The Metrotower was the highest building in the city, and I landed on the rooftop, making my way inside from there.

In the Monitor Womb I found Aquagirl and Micron chatting. Their subject was of course the return of the two founding members of the League; I had the feeling Batman and Wonder Woman would be a topic of gossip for a while.

Micron smiled when he saw me. "Hey, Supergirl. Haven't seen you in a few days, how have you been?"

"Fine. Busy though."

"Are you alright?" Mira asked, looking at me with concern.

I could only imagine how haggard I looked, but forced a smile onto my face as I nodded. "Of course. Listen, you guys wouldn't happen to know where Diana is would you? Wonder Woman, I mean."

"One of the training rooms," Micron told me. "She wanted to test out the new facilities. Not that they're new – just new to her, I guess, but-"

"Thanks."

"She said she'd prefer not to be disturbed, though," he added as I walked away.

"I'm sure she won't mind if it's me..." I muttered, the doors hissing shut behind me.

Diana was actually just coming out of training room three when I turned the corner, a white towel around her neck. She took a sharp intake of breath when she saw me. "Elizabeth!"

Deciding against a lame wave, I just stood there. "Hi." _Not that that was lame _at all, _Liz... _"Can we talk?"

"Of course! Um, come to my quarters, I'll make us some coffee."

While we walked to her quarters, I noticed two things: one, that despite the towel she didn't actually seem to be sweating at all. _Guess I didn't inherit _all _of her powers then. _Non-perspiration could really come in handy. Two, that she didn't take her eyes from my face once. She still didn't once we were inside.

She gestured to a small table with a couple of chairs pulled up to it. "Please, sit down."

I sat and a few moments later I was given a cup of coffee. Diana sat down with her own cup, and sipped. Her fingers were trembling. She was as nervous as I was about this. "So what did you want to see me about?"

"Bruce came to see me."

"Yes, I know." Then she quirked an eyebrow. "You _know_?"

I nodded. "Figured it out the day I realized who my parents really were. Are. How come you aren't in Gotham?"

"It's night there, he's patrolling. The manor is very lonely when it's empty."

I nodded. "He said you wanted to know me. And though having a mother is really weird for me, I think... I think I'd like that."

She nodded, smiling brilliantly. "Thank you."

"I- I have some questions, if you don't mind?"

"Of course not. Ask me anything."

Her staring was starting to unnerve me. She was looking at me like I was the rarest of treasures. It wasn't helping with the awkwardness, but I pushed it aside as best I could. "Well, the first one is...what happened? Dad- I was told that Apollo was the reason you and Bruce were almost killed, and why he never told me the truth — is that true?"

There was a tight spasm of anger around her mouth, before she nodded. "It's true."

"But _why_? What did I- what did you do to Apollo?"

"I don't know," she answered sadly. "He's ignoring my prayers, and though his sister, Artemis, is one of my patron goddesses-"

"Patron goddesses?" I asked, my curiosity interrupting.

"Hera, Athena, Aphrodite, Artemis and Hestia. They are my five patron goddesses, responsible for imbuing me with my powers; imbuing my flesh with life at all."

"So they give me my powers as well?"

"Yes," she nodded.

I got caught in the sapphire beam of her eyes, and couldn't think of another question. "Um..."

Seeming to understand that she was making me uncomfortable, Diana averted her gaze to the table between us. "I'm sorry, Elizabeth. I don't mean to disconcert you. It's just… It's almost inconceivable that the last time I saw you, you were a tiny baby. Barely a month old. Now you're a beautiful, intelligent young woman. I wish those intervening years hadn't been stolen from us," she added softly, touching my cheek with tender fingers.

I swallowed, frozen by her touch. My mother. When she drew away, we were both blinking back tears.

"Elizabeth…may I ask you a personal question?"

"Okay."

"What are you going to do? About Clark?"

I shrugged helplessly, feeling more tears join the first lot. "I know what I want to do, but I have no idea of what I actually will."

"Why not?" she asked.

"Because I..." I sat forward, put my face in my hands. "I feel as though I'm becoming a different person. So I guess it depends on...on what you or Bruce would do."

She took my hand. "You're your own person, Elizabeth. Only you can decide your destiny."

I laughed. "That's not true, though is it?" I looked at her. "What would you do?"

She shifted uncomfortably. "I've always found it difficult to forgive. When Shayera betrayed us during the Thanagarian invasion, it took me a long time to talk to her without it ending in an argument."

"So what changed?" I asked. "Or didn't it?"

"No, it did. But it took a return to the old way of our friendship; our lives being in each other's hands. When words and deeds have to be forgotten, because in battle there's no room for personal hurts."

I sighed. That wasn't really helpful; Dad and I had never fought together, we hadn't had a chance, thank God. The goddesses. And normality to us was being a family again - that wasn't something I was prepared to accept. He _wasn't_ my father. He didn't _deserve _to be my father. And 'personal hurts' didn't even begin to cover how I felt.

Diana smiled and squeezed my hand. "I think…you need to give it time. I'm sorry that's not much help."

No, it wasn't. But it seemed a little harsh to tell her that so bluntly. I let go of her hand, then stood. "Thank you, Diana."

"You're leaving?" she asked, looking wounded at the very idea.

I nodded, trying not to feel guilty. "I'll be back, though," I promised. "If that's okay?"

She grinned. "Absolutely. Where are you going now?"

"Gotham. I've never really been before, at least not to really _see _it. If I'm honest then I've been a little smug. I live in Metropolis, I can walk down the street without worrying about being mugged or shot or something- I want to see it. To help if I can."

She nodded with a little smirk. "Don't be surprised if your help isn't welcomed. Batman doesn't like sharing his city with metas. It took me a long time to persuade him I could help without reducing his own authority." She squeezed my shoulder. "But I'm sure he'll make an exception for his daughter."

I tried not to flinch, I really did. After that I left quickly, following the instructions Diana had given me for gaining access to the Batcave. Definitely number one on the list of creepy places I'd ever been. It was all dark and dank and…drippy.

Batman was waiting for me, his back to the colossal computer. "Why are you here?" he asked neutrally.

I shrugged. His gaze didn't let up. I sighed and explained. "Because I can't even think about...Superman. Diana just looks at me like I'm _glowing_, and you... You just don't expect anything from me. So out of the three parents, I think you're my favourite right now."

He was silent for a moment. "So what do you want from me?"

I took this as an invitation to sit down. "I don't know. I feel guilty, I think. When we were here for the memorial, I kinda...called Gotham a dump. But since it's in my blood, I guess I should learn more about it."

He nodded. "Alright. Where do you want to start?"

I would never tell him how utterly relieved I was to hear him say that. "Where you did."

* * *

This time, the mild headache that had accompanied the previous few visions had gone. To be replaced by an enormous migraine instead. Bruce's masked face swam above me, his eyes narrowed in concern.

I took his hand and let him help me to sit up. "How long was I out?" I asked.

"Almost two hours," he answered shortly. "The longest you have been so far. How do you feel?"

"Like I could use some aspirin. Apart from that, I'm okay."

He nodded. "What did you see?"

"Uh, you went to speak to Elizabeth. On my behalf," I smiled, knowing that he'd deny that he'd ever do any such thing. It was exactly the kind of thing he'd do — selfless and sneakily sweet. "And it worked. She went to see me. To try and make a relationship with me. Then of course she went to Gotham to see you. To help in Gotham, if she could."

"A meta in my city? Not likely," he commented.

"Not just a meta, Bruce. Our daughter. And I bet you anything she gets you to agree."

"So there were no more clues about where this curse came from-"

"Apollo," I interrupted. "Clark said-" I frowned, looking around. "Where is Clark?"

"Emergency in Metropolis," he explained. "What about Apollo?"

"He initiated the curse. Clark told Elizabeth when she demanded an explanation from him. He didn't know why, though."

Bruce nodded. "Apollo did warn us not to pursue a relationship. And he didn't deny that he would place a curse on you. He just denied that he didn't know who was showing you the future. No news there?"

"No. I - the future me - had been praying to the goddesses, but with no success."

"I see. So Apollo has a reason to take retribution against you, but you don't know why-"

"Because I left Themyscira to start a family," I interrupted again.

He stopped. Looked at me steadily for a few seconds. "Then it's because of me. Of us."

I frowned. "What? How can you say that?"

"In the future I'm your husband. Elizabeth is our daughter. It's because of 'your family' that you're almost killed." His voice turned strangely satisfied, wistful. "I was right before. This can't work. Apparently not for the reasons I thought, but…"

Oh no way. Not happening. At all. I hopped off the bed and grabbed his shoulders before he could leave. "Do you want it to end?"

"Diana…"

"Answer the question, Bruce. Do you want this to end?"

* * *

**A/N: Review please!**


	16. Chapter Fifteen

**A/N: Thank you for the reviews, I'm sorry this took me so long. The back of the novel is broken so I'll be updating slowly again. Thanks too to the wonderful DaisyJane for the beta. Also I had a review that I'd like to answer, so the rest of you skip down :)**

**Brucefan - **I'm glad you like the story, so thank you for that. But I have to disagree with your comments about Elizabeth being ungrateful; yes, Clark has given her everything he could, and yes he's given up his own happiness for her wellbeing, but think about it not logically, but emotionally. If your parents suddenly turned around tomorrow and told you they'd lied to you your entire life (not only that, but you've found out yourself), how would you feel? She's not _thinking _at all. She's just in pain, angry, and looking for someone to blame. And personally I think sitting Supes down and making him describe Bruce and Diana so she can then go make them her parents would be completely cruel to him. Also - be patient! She and Clark aren't going to stay separated for long.

**Chapter Fifteen**

Bruce stared at me for a long time before he finally answered. "That," he said, "is one of the most stupid things you have ever asked me, Diana."

That wasn't an answer, and we both knew it. I remained silent, keeping eye contact with him. He didn't leave me in the dark for long. "No," he said. "I do not want this to end."

"Alright," I nodded, refusing to let myself feel relieved. Everything still hung on his next answer. "One more question—why? Is it because you want me, or because you want to continue antagonizing my gods?"

Suddenly there was a gloved hand threading through my hair, settling on the back of my neck and bringing my mouth forward to meet his lips. He kissed me without desperation or hunger; slowly, measuredly, as if he were thinking through every sensation he was experiencing. There was no hurry, no rush. It was a kiss that told me he had every intention of kissing me with fierce passion again, so he could take this opportunity to just show me his feelings for me.

Finally he pulled away, leaving me with a wide if slightly silly grin on my face. "Oh. Good."

He smiled gently. "I'll patrol later, but before that—come back to the manor and have dinner with me."

"I'd love to. Just let me change."

"Diana, I don't care what you wear."

"I know. But this is our first dinner together; I want it to be special."

"Alright," he nodded, moving to the door. With his hand on the mechanism, he glanced over his shoulder. "Just so you know, Princess—it won't be the last."

I tried not to whistle as I made my way to my quarters to change, but it was difficult. In the end I went for humming as I picked out a simple knee-length white skirt and a black top with a wide scoop neckline. Black heels went on my feet, and I was putting in my favourite earrings when a now-familiar wave of dizziness rose up to engulf me. The last clear thought I had was: _Brilliant. I'll never find the earring back if it rolls under the bed…_

* * *

Bruce's reaction was neither what I'd expected or anticipated. After a moment when his mouth thinned to an almost invisible line, and the muscles of his jaw bulged, he said, "No, you don't."

I frowned. "What makes you say that?"

"You remember that pain?" he asked.

It was obvious which _pain _he was referring to. Did I remember it? The mere _mention _of it was enough to send my heart breaking all over again, enough to bring a fresh wave of tears to my eyes. Did I remember having my family ripped from me? Yeah, you bet I did.

He wasn't finished, and didn't seem inclined to be merciful. "The anger and the grief and the loneliness, that cut deeper than you thought possible?"

"…that won't ever go away?" I asked quietly.

He stood, walking toward me and fixing me with a blank white, pitiless stare. "To start where I did, you have to maintain that. You have to bottle up every drop of that agony and store it in your heart. You have to drink, breathe, and bathe in it. You have to _know _and _remember _how much it hurts so that it motivates you."

There was shocked and stunned silence. I had no idea what I could say, if anything. There wasn't any variation in his voice, there was no emotion—it was just inexorable, immutable fact. To do what he did, I had to _feed _off the hurt that still hissed and spat inside my heart. Every single day. I knew for a fact that I was not strong enough to do that—to do that and not let it poison my soul.

I swallowed down the hard lump in my throat, looking in increasing awe at the man in front of me. "How do you survive?"

The answer was unhesitating, unflinching. "Diana."

Another silence before he turned away from me, moving back to the computer. "Just because you can't start where I did, doesn't mean you can't help."

"So how do I?"

His fingers hit a succession of keys, and suddenly there was low humming sound issuing from the back of the Cave. I turned toward it to see an entire section of previously solid wall sliding to one side, to reveal a glass display case full of suits. It wasn't difficult to recognize some of them—obviously earlier versions of the batsuit, of the Robin outfits. There was one at the end I didn't recognize, though. I moved forward, looking more closely at it. It was black, without a cape or mask, and skin-tight, covering all limbs completely. There were tiny gold stars studded down the seams, though, along the arms and legs, around the high neckline. Gold-coloured bracers encircled the forearms. The belt, too, was black, but with utility compartments which were gold. There was some kind of motif on the buckle… I peered at it, drawing in a gasp when I realized what it was. A bat, surmounted with the twin WW of Diana. This suit had been designed…specifically for _me_.

I turned and stared at Batman. "I based it on one of Diana's old costumes just after she and I married and she began operating in Gotham," he told me. "Made it just after you were born."

I carried on staring.

He cleared his throat, moved over to the display case and tapped in a code into the lock. "The vault's hermetically sealed, so it should still be good."

There was beeping noise, a hiss of rushing air. He wanted me to _wear _it? Was I ready for that? I took a deep breath, forcing the nervousness down. This was what I was here for. I'd come to discover who I was—what better way was there to do that than by becoming the woman my parents had obviously envisaged me being?

I moved forward, took the suit from him. "Thank you."

"There's no point bothering with the bracers until you've had some training from your mother. I doubt you can deflect bullets on your own."

"She can deflect bullets?" I asked in amazement. "Wow."

He indicated some kind of first-aid area just past the computer. "You can change behind the screen."

I nodded, changed quickly without listening to the voice that screamed what a betrayal this was. The voice that yelled at me I was Supergirl, nothing more and nothing less. There was no denying that once on, the suit felt—_suffocating—_tight. I examined the material more closely; it wasn't leather, but a close-weave, heavy fiber I'd never seen up close before. Bulletproof, I'd imagine.

I pulled back the screen and stepped out, smiling self-consciously. "So how do I look?"

His gaze was inscrutable. "Like your mother."

"It's weird, I've never worn kevlar before."

"Never?" he asked disbelievingly.

"Gun crime isn't really a problem in Metropolis."

"This isn't Metropolis."

_You can say that again_… "I know. So what now? Do we…go on patrol or something?"

"Yes. After…"

I frowned, narrowing my eyes. I didn't like that hesitation. Batman did not seem like the kind of man who hesitated. "After?"

He stopped, sighed. "The suit looks a little tight; I'll adjust it. Come back tomorrow."

"And what am I supposed to do in the meantime?"

"Go see Clark."

"Excuse me?" I hissed.

"You heard me."

"Yeah, I heard you, doesn't mean I have to _obey _you. You can't give me orders-"

"You need to see him," he told me quietly.

"No."

Silence.

"I _don't _need to see him."

More silence.

"Even if I did, it's too soon to-" Seeing as this line of reasoning was getting me nowhere, I stopped and ran a hand through my hair, changing tack. "Why do you even _want _me to? Of everyone aside from me, _you _have the most reason to hate him for what he did! He stole your _place_-"

"What he did," he interrupted, "was everything I'd have wanted him to."

I gaped stupidly. "What?"

"Just before we crashed, I held you in my arms. Said to Diana we'd protect you from anything. We failed. But then my best friend sacrificed his own happiness to give you a safe and loving childhood—that's everything _any_ parent could _ever _wish for their child. He gave you everything. Including something I never could: a grandparent."

"But-"

"Were you ever unhappy?"

I could only answer with the truth. "Never."

"Did you ever doubt for a second that you were loved?"

"No."

"Then what else do you think he could have done that he didn't? What, _exactly_, did he do that's let you down so badly you can't bring yourself to look at him?"

"…nothing."

"Nothing."

"But…how _do _I look at him?" _After what _I've_ said and done_, I added silently. "Where do I even begin?"

"With the truth. Tell him you miss him."

* * *

**A/N: Review please!**


	17. Chapter Sixteen

**A/N: I'm so sorry about the epically long wait between chapters, but thank you to Margaritenightly for the nudge to get this chapter out. Also thank you to DaisyJane for the beta.**

**Chapter Sixteen**

I was really getting tired of waking up in the midst of someone else's emotions. Especially since I'd felt these particular ones once before. I knew what it was like to have one's home and family snatched from you in the cruelest way possible. And I knew what it was like to be reunited with a beloved parent. When Shayera and I had restored order to Tartarus, it had given my mother and I the first opportunity in _years_ to simply be together. As soon as we were alone, we had both collapsed into tears and fallen into each other's arms. Much like Elizabeth and Clark probably would when she got there.

My own heart was still smoking angrily at him—the fact was that necessary or not, he had taken Bruce's place in our daughter's life and heart. Replaced _me _with Lois. But at the same time, there could be no denying that Elizabeth needed to see him. Bruce had been right about that. She had wounds in her heart that only he could heal, and likewise.

I sighed, and walked over to the mirror in the corner. I still had to get ready for my dinner date. Falling unconscious had not done wonders for my hair as it had fallen into complete disarray. As I ran my fingers through it, I tried to think logically. Once those wounds in her heart were healed, her life was still changed. She now had three parents, and could anyone be expected to balance the complicated emotions that would swirl up from that scenario? Bruce's idea—the idea he would have—of merging our emblems and our styles for Elizabeth's armour, was quite brilliant. A union of both of our very different heritages that suited her very well. However, I was fairly sure that Elizabeth would have a brilliant idea of her own soon. And there would most likely be a cape and an 'S' added to that suit. A child of the trinity.

Was that so bad, I asked myself? We had a bond, the three of us. Flash had often commented that the rest of the League didn't really need to exist, so long as the Trinity was around to save the day. The saying 'two's company, three's a crowd' had just never applied to us, and I'd often wondered what would happen if two of us paired up—it was the only downside I could see to a relationship between Bruce and I. The idea that Elizabeth should look at all of us as parents…perhaps it wasn't as horrible as my initial reaction had suggested.

Shaking thoughts of Elizabeth temporarily from my mind, I fixed my hair and walked down to the teleport room, and programmed a transport to the Batcave. I was met by Alfred, who looked happy to see me but also apologetic.

"Good evening, Your Highness."

"Hello, Alfred. How are you?"

"Very well, thank you, Miss Diana. Master Bruce sends his apologies and asks you to wait in the drawing room for him—he's not quite ready."

"I hope he's not spoiling your dinner?" I asked with a smile as we went upstairs.

"Not at all. Thankfully the soufflés are twice-baked."

Diana was only just starting on her glass of champagne when Bruce entered the library, and he greeted her with a kiss—on the cheek, but she wasn't about to complain. "You look beautiful."

Diana could feel the color rise in her cheeks at his words. "Thank you. You don't look terrible yourself."

Over the starter, before my senses got completely overcome by the wonderful taste sensation of Alfred's food, I decided to tell him what I'd seen. "I had another vision before I arrived."

When he didn't say anything, I frowned a little. "Don't you want to know what happened?"

"Later," he said. "We talk business all the time, Princess."

"So the Batman wants _small talk_?" I chuckled.

"Not exactly. But normal conversation would be good."

"Alright, normal conversation—how are the boys?"

"Fine."

Another silence while my shoulders shook with silent laughter and Bruce attempted a glare. Finally he relented and elaborated on his monosyllabic answer. "Relations with Dick are still a little strained but it's getting better now that he has his own city."

"And now that he no longer has to struggle in your shadow?" I asked.

Bruce nodded. "It wasn't my intention, and nothing that happened was Dick's fault." A smile quirked the corner of his mouth. "All he did was to become a man while I wasn't looking. A relatively normal man who stands some chance at being happy in the future."

I touched his hand briefly. "That's not a bad thing. And Tim? Does this mean you're taking greater pains to watch him grow up?"

"Again, trying. If I was just his father then it would be easier, but I'm not. I'm his mentor in fighting crime and sometimes... I think he's already grown up because of what I've done."

There was a rather stunned silence when he looked at me again—not with tears in his eyes or anything like that, more surprise at what I'd gotten him to divulge, as well as a little analytical gleam that was Batman working out just how I'd done it. Finally he smiled. "Not talking business is obviously dangerous with you."

"I didn't mean to make you uncomfortable."

"You didn't. But few people know me well enough to ask about them, and even if they know me well enough, it's still not a question that gets brought up."

"I can't imagine Alfred lets you get away with not talking about them," I noted.

"Well no, but Alfred's…Alfred." I understood what he meant by that statement. For some reason I always wanted to tell Alfred everything because I always felt better afterwards.

We chatted about the boys for a little while longer before the conversation evolved in another direction. True to his word, Bruce didn't talk about the League, Elizabeth or even Clark. We touched on Lois Lane for a while, but didn't go much further than that. The food was delicious, the wine flowed freely and I couldn't remember the last time I'd had such a relaxing evening. Well, relaxing in one way. Bruce seemed to get a little closer with each course, and by the time Alfred had served coffee his fingers had been entwined with mine for about ten minutes. My whole arm tingled and my lips seemed to ache for his.

I was really glad he'd gotten as far as intimate gestures of affection before I blacked out.

* * *

It was a very long flight to Metropolis.

Technically, it didn't take me that much time to get there. But once I'd arrived, I ended up circling the city about twenty-seven times rehearsing what I was going to say. There were no emergencies, so I could only assume he was in the house. That and I'd hovered over it about twenty minutes ago and saw the lights on downstairs.

When the first edges of dawn began to poke over the horizon, I figured I'd wasted enough time. That and if I hadn't managed to work out what to say yet, I probably wasn't going to this side of Christmas. Time to suck it up, bite the bullet and the rest of the crap, useless phrases rolling around my brain right now. Gritting my teeth, I headed down. The car wasn't on the driveway; it was parked on the side of the road—illegally—and not very straight. That didn't seem like Dad.

I didn't have my key with me, so I had to knock on the front door of my own house. He took almost no time to open the door, though when he did, he tore it off. I knew I'd meant to say something, but the sight of him in the doorway, looking utterly shocked, with the entire door being held up just by the handle looked almost unbearably funny. The startled snort that left my mouth, though, sounded completely out of place. I swallowed any further laughter down.

"Hi."

He carried on staring at me, then almost tripped over his own feet in his haste to let me in. Silence continued, as awkward and nervous as it had been before. He replaced the door and then turned to me. In the light of the hallway, his face was thrown into sharp relief. He looked awful. He was pale and with huge dark circles under his eyes. I felt a wave of hot, bubbling guilt in my stomach. Crap. Had I done that?

I realized I'd have to be the one to speak. "You're parked illegally."

"I know," he said. "Ran out of gas and I couldn't move it."

I stared. "What do you mean you couldn't move it? It's just a car, it's gotta weigh, what one and a half tons?"

He nodded, and then shrugged like a naughty schoolboy. "Haven't been outside in a few days."

"You haven't-? You mean, no- no sunlight?"

More silence.

"Oh my God, Dad!"

I grabbed his hand and dragged him into the living room, opening the corner cupboard and taking out the UV lamp we kept in there for emergencies. Switching it on, I sat him in front of it; relieved to see he looked almost immediately better. Not much, but at least a bit. I sat down too with a sigh.

The silence came back again.

"So…how are you?"

"Good. Good, I'm…good."

I nodded. "Good."

"You?"

"I'm fine too." I took a deep breath. "Look, I- I came to say I'm sorry."

His eyes widened almost comically. "_You're _sorry? Lizzie, you haven't done anything-"

"Yes, I have," I interrupted firmly. "I was angry and confused and…_distraught_, but ultimately it wasn't you fault."

"I'm the one who lied to you," he said quickly. "That's what matters in the end."

"Maybe, but the _reason_ you lied, Daddy… It was a good reason."

"But-"

"Let me finish, please. All right, so I lived a lie. But it was a good lie, Dad. A happy one. You gave up everything for me, just so I could have a real childhood with a daddy who loved me and a grandma who spoiled me at every opportunity—and I turned and spat in your face for it."

"I lied to you, though. Everything you accused me of was true, Liz. Hippolyta could have protected you, raised you on Themyscira as an Amazon. Or Alfred could've become your guardian and hidden your mother's identity from you, raised you as Bruce's heir. I didn't have to let you believe something that wasn't true."

"You could have," I allowed, "but I'm glad you didn't. I would have rather had the last twenty years with you than anything else, Daddy."

There was a pause, and then, "I don't know what to say."

"You don't have to say anything," I told him, feeling tears fill my eyes. "But a hug would be nice."

"Oh, sweetheart. Come here."

I didn't mean to cry, I really didn't. But when I was finally getting a hug from my _daddy_, the sobs came thick and fast. From the way he shook as well, it wasn't just me.

* * *

**A/N: Review please!**


	18. Chapter Seventeen

**A/N: Thank you to Daisy Jane for the beta!**

**Chapter ****Seventeen**

This was either going to go really well, or _really_ disastrously.

Thursday, so it was Dad's turn to buy lunch at the office for he and Lois. Which gave me the time I needed.

No matter how many times he stressed that I didn't need to apologize, or that I'd been the victim, I could not get the image of how he'd looked as he opened the door out of my head. He hadn't just looked sick, he'd looked like death barely warmed over. Dad had told me that having me back made up for anything, but it didn't remove the guilt I felt. I owed him—I owed him big time.

Once sure he was out of the Planet building, I headed up to the office, and knocked softly on the door. Without waiting for an answer, I opened the door. Lois looked surprised to see me. I noted with an odd mix of regret and pride that she was no longer the most beautiful woman in my world.

"Hey, Lois," I smiled.

"Hi, Liz. You just missed your dad, he-"

"I know, I came to see you."

Her brow furrowed. "Why?"

I sat down. "Because I think you know the second-biggest and the biggest secret my dad has been keeping from you."

To Lois' credit, she didn't say she didn't know what I was talking about. She didn't leave the room. She just stopped and stared. Her eyes were wide, and her mouth opened and closed repeatedly. Finally she got something out. "S-second-biggest?"

I expected the sentence would catch in my throat, be too hard to say aloud, but it slipped out like the easiest thing in the world. "That's he's Superman."

No silence now; the pen in her hand broke with an audible crunching sound. "I knew it," she mumbled. "I knew it, I knew it, I knew it…"

She stood suddenly, and walked around the office three times repeating it to herself, running a visibly shaking hand through her hair. When she'd said it about…thirty seven times, I decided perhaps I should stop her. "Lois? Lois!"

She stopped with her back to me. I saw her shoulders rise and fall three times with deep breaths. Then she walked to her desk and sat back down again. When she looked back up at me, her face was totally calm and she'd stopped shaking. Then she actually laughed. "How is that the second-biggest secret?"

"You haven't heard the biggest one yet."

"Alright. Hit me."

"He loves you."

Silence came back again.

"I'm one of his oldest friends," she said finally.

It was my turn to laugh. "Lois, you know that isn't true."

She glared at the space above my left shoulder. "He lied to everyone here. I mean, he didn't even do them the courtesy of lying _well_. He just disappeared for a year and came back with...with a dead wife and a daughter-"

I was quiet for a moment. "I didn't know that. We've lived in Metropolis for as long as I can remember."

"Yeah, well, let me fill in the blanks," she said acidly. "I came into work one morning to be told that my partner had quit with no warning or explanation, and wasn't ever coming back. Clark didn't answer his cell when I called so I went to Smallville once I'd finally lost my patience."

"What did he say?"

"That he-" she had to push hard to get through the tears, continuing with difficulty, "-he'd suffered a bereavement. An old girlfriend had gotten pregnant, died in childbirth and left him with the baby. I think I hated you from that moment."

I shook my head, feeling another stab of betrayal. I didn't let it dominate though. He'd paid the price. More than paid it. "I was always told they were married. That she died in a fire and that's why we didn't have any pictures of her. Dad rescued me but couldn't save her."

"And you believed that?" she questioned. "He's _Superman_ and you believed that he wouldn't be able to save both you and your mother?"

"Yes. He had no reason to lie to me. At least not as far as I knew."

"So… He must have known we couldn't be friends and risk me telling you the story he told me."

"Neither of them is anywhere close to true. I'm sorry—I'm so, so sorry—that I've come between both of you for so long. I won't anymore. And I'm sorry I caused him to hurt you for so long."

"So you're not his daughter."

"Not biologically."

"Then your parents…"

"Bruce Wayne and Diana of Themyscira."

"Wonder Woman?" she said faintly. "Your- Your mother is Wonder Woman?"

"Yes. When they died I was in mortal danger as well. The only way to protect me was to make me believe I wasn't anything to do with the Amazons. That my strength and flight capability-"

"-came from your Kryptonian father," she completed. Her eyes shut tightly and she sighed. A couple tears squeezed out from underneath her lashes. "Oh _Clark_…"

After she composed herself enough to carry on, she asked, "Why didn't he tell me?"

"You're a very good reporter. And even if you didn't write a story on it, the more people knew, the more danger I was in."

She smiled. "I always knew he loved you more than me."

"No. But I'm a duty as well as his daughter, that's the only reason I came first. I'm not in danger anymore, Lois, and he is in love with you. Hopelessly and totally."

She wiped her eyes. "Hopelessly and totally huh?"

"Yep. And he'll never be happy until you're completely a part of his life. Plus, unless I've read you really wrong all these years, I'm pretty sure you love him too. Don't you?"

She nodded. "Always have. Always will."

I'd known it all my life, but hearing her say it put the broadest grin possible on my face. It got wider when the door opened behind me; Dad carrying a brown paper bag in one hand and two soda cans in the other. "Liz! What are you doing here?"

"Leaving," I smiled brightly. "I'll see you later, Dad. Bye, Lois."

She didn't answer. On my way out the door, I looked over my shoulder. Lois had taken everything out of his hands, then she just threw herself into his arms, kissing him fiercely. Well, I knew she'd been harbouring a love for him, but the passion caught me by surprise. Apparently a lot more than it did Dad, since pretty soon his hands were around her waist and then in her hair…

I shut the door before I had to see my father _rekindling_ anything that would mentally scar me.

College was done for the day, and I figured Lois would keep Dad busy for at least the afternoon. That left me at a bit of a loss. I bought a coffee from Starbucks and sat sipping while I thought about what to do. Well, Bruce did say to come back after I'd squared things with Dad… Plus, now that I had, my thoughts on the costume he'd designed for me had altered slightly. I still liked it, but it didn't entirely fit me. I was the summation of three parents, not two. Maybe it needs a cape.

I was also feeling bad about how I'd behaved with Diana. I'd been feeling completely overwhelmed then, totally out of my depth. I was absolutely certain that in less than a year I'd have Lois as a stepmother—but Diana was my mother. She'd held me as a baby, fed me and changed me; at least for a too-short time. She deserved to have a relationship with her daughter.

Finding a deserted alleyway, I shot into the air as fast as possible, heading for Gotham, and Wayne Manor.

* * *

"Well, that's the first time you've woken up grinning," Bruce remarked when I sat up.

We were in the drawing room, with me stretched out on the couch. "Carried you in here when your vision started," he explained at my questioning look. "I take it things went better this time?"

I nodded. "Everything's…fixed."

"Fixed? Just like that?"

I frowned, thinking. It was difficult not to feel rather optimistic about what I'd just seen—Elizabeth had patched things up with Clark, and was on her way to Wayne Manor to spend more time with us. With me. "Yes," I told Bruce finally, smiling again.

He eyed me a little suspiciously. "So you don't want to hit Clark anymore?"

I searched myself, but found no anger in my heart for Kal. Whatever he had done, he had done it for Elizabeth's sake—and sacrificed much because of that, obviously. "No. Did I tell you he wasn't with Lois?"

"What do you mean?"

I laughed gently: his blank tone said it all—Clark without Lois just did not make sense, even to Batman. And yet he'd done it for our daughter. "Elizabeth just set them up. Sort of. She let the dog out of the bag."

"Cat," Bruce corrected automatically. "Lois didn't know? I'd bet most of my fortune she knows already."

Not having spent much time with Lois, I shrugged. "She said she did to Elizabeth, but she still seemed pretty shocked to hear it. And now Elizabeth is coming here. To spend some more time with us."

His black brows shot up briefly. "That does sound good."

A little gurgle of joy came out of my mouth; impulsively, I leaned up and kissed him. "Dance with me."

He let me pull him to his feet, but frowned at me as though I was slightly drunk. I did fell almost giddy. Everything was going to be all right. "Dance? Diana, why-?"

"Because you owe me one," I said simply.

"But now?"

He shut up as I kissed him again, for longer this time. His hands came down on my hips, drawing me closer and deepening the kiss. Before I knew it my fingers were raking through his hair and our tongues were dancing even if we weren't. Bruce pulled away—not before sucking lightly on my bottom lip for a few seconds—to whisper harshly, "Maybe we should stop."

Contrary to his words, his mouth then descended to my neck, nipping along my jaw-line before going lower to skin over my collarbone. I moaned low in my throat. "Maybe we shouldn't."

He drew back, but didn't take his hands from my waist. His blue eyes were as serious as I'd ever seen them, even in the gravest of situations. "You know what could-"

"Of course I know," I murmured. "But whatever will be will be."

He sighed and rested his forehead against mine for a moment. "How is it that the cliche sounds completely sincere when it comes from you?"

My only answer was to kiss him again. I lifted into the air and flew us to the bedroom. It took us some time to get there; it was difficult to fly in a straight line with Bruce's lips against mine, or on my neck or my shoulders. My dress definitely disappeared long before we reached the master bedroom, as did his shirt. When we reached the bed and the rest of our clothes were shucked, we were dancing—admittedly not the dance I'd had in mind earlier. But infinitely more sublime. Nervousness did not ever enter into my mind or my actions—I simply laid myself completely open, held nothing back. For the first time in our relationship, Bruce didn't either. I knew he loved me without words. In his eyes, in his movements, there was everything. Need, possession, connection, worship even.

I met him on all levels, and we reached the crest of pleasure together, neither of us muffling our cries of release. In the quaking abyss that followed the peak, I clung to him, my head spinning. "Bruce…"

He held me until I'd stopped trembling. I was the one to reach for him again—the sun had risen before either of us fell into slumber.

* * *

Lacking a costume of any kind, I skirted the coast on the way from Metropolis to Gotham to avoid public exposure. In a good mood still, I dipped close to the ocean, skimming my fingers through the cold water. A wave snuck up on me at one point, soaking me completely and making me regret choosing a white t-shirt that morning. Still, I wasn't that far away from Wayne Manor now, if Google Maps was to be believed—and I was fairly sure Bruce would have towels.

When I left the coast and headed up the cliffs, I spotted it easily. I hadn't really been in any mood to look at it properly the night before, but in the sunlight, Wayne Manor was impressive to say the least. A little grand and a little…well, _gothic_ for my tastes, but still impressive, and not a little intimidating. I was about half a mile away. Surprised by how much I was looking forward to seeing them both again, I increased my pace.

The next thing I knew, there was a sharp pain in my back, and I was being introduced head-first to the ground. Everything went black quickly—and stayed black. I wasn't unconscious; I could still feel the wind on my skin, and when the air grew warm, hot even, I knew I wasn't in Gotham anymore. I struggled too, or tried to, but to no avail. There were no ropes binding me as far as I could tell, but my hands just wouldn't obey me. No one spoke, no one touched me even. Clearly someone was doing this though.

The light which met my eyes when the blackness was removed blinded me for a few seconds. My eyes watering, I had to blink hard and squint to regain my vision. I was 'helped' along by a sharp slap across the face.

"Do wake up, little sister," a cold female voice laughed. "Can't keep Father waiting now…"

Finally able to see properly, I gasped in recognition. It was the woman who'd attacked me with that fake—or not so fake—Kryptonite a few days ago. Behind her stood the two men with her. "You!"

She grinned. "Ah yes, I never did introduce myself, did I? I am Eris," she said expectantly.

I looked at her blankly. "Is that supposed to mean something to me?"

She pursed her lips, her previously brown eyes moving to pitch black. "Don't forget, sister," one of the men said, "she's not been educated as a proper Amazon should have been."

"Tcha. Then we'll have to educate her, Phobos. After our father has finished doing the same, of course."

_Phobos…why does that ring a bell? Pho, pho, pho…bia. Fear. Amazon equals Greek, Phobia equals fear- Ah._ So this would be the Greek god of fear, as unbelievable as it sounded. Unfortunately my knowledge of Greek mythology stopped there. I had no idea who this 'Father' was.

Eris saw a vague recognition in my eyes, and chuckled lowly. "Wonderful! I'll fetch Father. I will see you later, my little Amazon."

"Do your research," I spat. "I'm no Amazon."

"No…but then you're not really anything, are you? Or at least you won't be soon."

Eris, Phobos and the other one left me alone; I got a good look around the chamber I'd been tied up in. Everything certainly looked classically Greek—marble and gold everywhere, murals on the walls. Murals of… My eyes widened in horror as I looked more closely. They were all of death. Of war and blood and battle. To the left of me was a massive bed, covered in leathers all stitched together. No, not leathers. Skins. Human skins. Bile rose in my throat.

"Oh my God."

"How accurate."

Another face I recognized and hadn't wanted to see ever again. It took me a minute to pin down his name. "Cyrus. I knew there was something creepy about you."

"Ares. Though since you did not recognize my daughter's name, I doubt mine will mean much more to you."

"Greek god I'm guessing."

"Of war, yes."

"Yay for you. What do you want with me? I already told Eris I'm not an Amazon, if you're hoping for some kind of intel you can use-"

He held up a finger. "That's where you're wrong. You may not have lived under Hippolyta's sway, but you certainly have the spirit of her warriors. Or you do for the time being, Amazon."

"Stop with the empty threats. They don't impress me, and they don't surprise me."

Then he did surprise me. He gripped my chin hard, and with a lecherous smile, kissed me savagely. "You do have fire. A quality I will enjoy training out of you. Amazons are always the most fun."

"I'm not an Amazon," I snarled through gritted teeth. "And you won't get a chance to touch me-"

I cut off with a cry of silent pain as he sank his fist into my midsection. I forced myself upward again without a noise. He only smirked. "My favourite part: the breaking."

"Bastard."

He only smiled and with one hand lifted my chin. "Oh soon you'll have a new name for me." The other settled on my left breast. "'Master'."

"Over my dead body."

He took out a small dagger, drew it down my chest, cutting through my top, my bra and slicing into the flesh in a vertical crimson line down my torso. It hurt with the sharp clarity of a superficial wound. It also meant that my entire chest was exposed.

We both watched as the cut healed before the blood had time to drip onto my jeans. "Excellent..." he hissed. He looked back up to me, and I hoped my eyes were conveying the fact that as soon as my hands were unbound, I was going to gut him with a spoon.

Ares didn't seem perturbed, and his voice held dreadful promise. "I am going to have so much fun with you, my dear."

I bit the inside of my cheek. Dad, now would be a good time for a rescue...

As the dagger descended to my jeans, I realized I didn't know which dad I meant.

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**A/N: Review please!**


	19. Chapter Eighteen

**A/N: Thank you to DaisyJane for the beta, as always she did an amazing job. Right, this chapter is being given an _MA Rating. It contains very graphic scenes_****. If you're underage (it's an M story anyway, you shouldn't be) or especially sensitive, please skip this one. Thank you.**

**Chapter Eighteen**

For one fraction of a second, I prayed it was a nightmare. But nightmares don't bring dread with them. The rush of mad fear, yes, but the terrible buzzing that filled my limbs was not from a dream. Nor was the lead weight in the pit of my stomach.

It was impossible that I should do nothing – but there was nothing _to_ do. She was trapped exactly where I couldn't get to her, locked into a future I was _crawling _toward when I needed to be sprinting. I sat up, feeling utterly disorientated – I normally slept naked, but where— Memory seeped in slowly of the night Bruce and I had spent together. At any other time, it would have brought aftershocks of pleasure and warmth. Now it made me feel utterly ashamed. How could I have experienced everything sex should be when Elizabeth was about to-?

There was the sound of running water coming from the bathroom adjacent to the bedroom; Bruce was in the shower. I opened the door and threw it across the room. It shattered against the wall into splinters, while the plaster of the wall crumbled and the bricks underneath showed. I didn't spare it a second glance, and rushed inside. Hearing the commotion, Bruce had shut the water off as I entered. Seeing my stricken face and the remains of the door handle in my grasp, he opened the door and reached for a towel.

"What did it show?" he asked quickly.

"Ares and he's going to…She needs help we have to go and get her, we have to…Who do we know who can time travel? There must be someone in the League with the power to-"

"Diana, calm down. We can't do anything until I understand what's going on. Ares. Ares has Elizabeth?"

I nodded, trying to organise my thoughts into some kind of order. "He and his children kidnapped her. And now he's trying to…to…break her or something, I don't know…but he's going to _rape _her, Bruce. He is going to rape her if we don't do something about it now!"

He nodded, and I'm not sure how he managed to get dressed as fast as he did without meta powers, but within roughly thirty seconds he was dressed. Years of practice I guess. So the way down to the Cave, he listed every member of the League who might be able to help.

"Zatanna is a possibility, if she's powerful enough. We only need to get twenty years into the future. Otherwise there's Booster Gold. He has the technology necessary."

"What about Chronos?"

Bruce shook his head. "His belt is locked into the loop with him."

"Zatanna then," I said, making sure my lasso was secure on my hip.

"Contact Superman," he said while he changed. "He'll be a valuable ally against Ares, and Elizabeth will trust him more easily than us."

I added the rest of the sentence. _In case we're too late and she's too traumatised to recognise us. _"Wonder Woman to Superman."

There was the sound of him clearing his throat, and then a rushing noise I'd learned to mean he was in the office, and couldn't reply until he sped away. "_Superman here_."

"Get up the Watchtower as soon as you can. We have a class six emergency."

"What_? I haven't heard anything-_"

"You won't have. It's Elizabeth. Get up there _now_."

"_But-_"

"Wonder Woman out."

Fully caped and cowled, Batman activated the transport to the Watchtower. Superman wasn't aboard yet, and Zatanna, it transpired, was on the astral plane, searching for a Mayan artifact that had, in the wrong hands, the ability to make every volcano in the world, including the Yellowstone Caldera, erupt simultaneously. I really did not give a damn about what happened to the world. My little girl was in danger of being abused appallingly, and one of the only people who could help was unavailable.

"Call her back," I instructed J'onn.

"I can't," J'onn said. "There's no way to communicate with her. She can't hear us or feel any physcial stimuli. All we can do is keep her body safe until she returns of her own free will."

I gritted my teeth and turned to Bruce. "So we find Booster Gold."

As we left Zatanna's room, Superman came around the corner, looking concerned. "Alright, what's going on? Diana, you said something about Elizabeth?"

"She's being held by Ares. We're using Booster Gold to get to her time and rescue her," Batman said, not stopping while he explained.

When Clark got in the way, he had to. "_What_?" Batman barked.

"Elizabeth is in the future. Nothing is happening to her yet, and there are twenty years between then and now to stop it. I realise you two have a personal interest in this, but don't you think that could be a problem? Batman, surely _you_ see that?"

"This isn't about us saving Elizabeth, Superman."

I turned to stare at Bruce. "It isn't?"

"No. Superman's right, we have twenty years to save her. This is…"

"Is this for _me_?" I asked, suddenly seeing why he was doing this and I was completely furious about it. "For Hera's sake, Bruce!" I yelled, not caring how loud my voice might be. "You've seen rape victims! You must have done with what you do! There must have been times you were too late to stop it from happening!"

He nodded. "Good," I snapped, now beginning to tremble, "because now I want you to imagine those women – those broken, traumatised women, every single one of them – is your daughter. Think of her when you remember them. And now tell me if we still have _twenty years_ to save her!"

He shook his head once. Clark was still looking as though he needed more convincing. "Diana, I still don't-"

"Kal. Please don't make me witness my daughter being raped. Do not ask me to watch that, do not."

His face fell. "No. No, I won't."

"Thank you. Now where in Tartarus is Booster Gold?"

I had never liked Booster Gold. He was immature, annoying and arrogant with _no_ skill or ability to back it up. He had never stopped bragging from the moment he arrived from the 25th century, or wherever it was he claimed to be from. It was impossible to spend more than ten minutes in his company without wanting to hit him, at least for me. It was possibly why Bruce avoided him like the plague.

So naturally, when we found him in the commissary flirting (or attempting to) with Stargirl and stuffing his face with chili-fries, I wasn't disposed to be patient. In fact I just grabbed his shoulder and lifted him bodily out of his chair. I heard Clark make some kind of apology to Courtney before he followed us. Once outside in the hallway, I put Booster down. He looked between the identical glares of Batman and myself, and then put his hands up.

"Okay…what'd I do?"

"We need to get to the future, and you're going to help us."

"Okay. What for?"

"We have to rescue my daughter," I said. "She's- She's in trouble."

"Right, so she doesn't belong in the future?"

"Not _that_ future."

"Hang on a second here. Is she from this time, or isn't she?"

I slammed my fist into the wall next to his head. "What does that have to do with-?"

"No," Batman cut in. "Now let's go."

Booster Gold swallowed. Hard. "Uh, no. Sorry, but we can't. If she's in her own time then it's against all the laws of-"

"I don't _care _about your stupid laws!" I yelled. "You are a member of the Justice League; it is your duty to-"

He still shook his head. "You know I can't," he shook his head. "The timeline-"

Superman picked him up by the scruff of his neck. "You _don't _help, and the 'timeline' will be the least of your problems."

Still he shook his head. "I can't. If I break one rule for one person, what's to stop me breaking the rule for everyone-"

I grabbed him off Clark, and slammed him into the wall, hard. "If you don't break it now, _any_ capacity you have to break it in the future will be permanently removed!"

When Booster Gold opened his mouth again, there was a red tinge of blood along the inside of his mouth. I didn't care. And I didn't have time to care either. It was too late. Dark speckles had begun to appear at the edges of my vision, starting to crowd inwards.

I let Booster drop to the floor while I put my hands to my head and pleaded with the gods to stop it from happening. "No, no, no, no, no, Hera, please _no_!"

When I fell to my knees, it wasn't because the vision had appeared yet. It was because it was taking every last shred of willpower I had not to give in. I even managed it for a second, as the darkness scattered. But it wasn't defeated for long.

"Diana?"

I shook my head with a sob. "Too late. It's too late…"

Dad didn't come. Neither father did. Nor did my mother.

There was no way to measure time, so I wasn't sure how many hours or minutes I was bound to the bed. I do know Ares spent that time raping me. He forced his way inside me at least a dozen times. After the first few times he freed my limbs and I started to fight him, but I was no match for his brute strength, even with my powers. Recovery time was apparently not something gods had to deal with. He didn't focus solely on just raping my sex, though. After he freed me he enjoyed beating and cutting me as punishment for fighting him. He liked taking side trips to litter deep cuts across the rest of my body; at one point he scraped bone with the knife.

They all healed, of course. At first, but slowly his abuse started to take its toll on my body. The bruises from where he'd shoved my thighs apart for the umpteenth time didn't fade. The cuts surrounding my nipples didn't close. Was this what he'd meant by breaking me? Battering me into mortality?

I hated him. There was no acceptance of what he was doing to me, no going cold with the knowledge that I had to wait until it was all over. My mind refused to leave my body and go to a safe place while he forced his rage upon me. No, I was fully present tore as he into me again and again. I _hated _him. I wanted to strip the skin from his bones, break every one of them. Hold a blowtorch to his eyeballs and watch them melt down his face. I wanted to hear him _scream_.

I kicked. I punched. I bit. I used my nails to tear gouges of flesh from his back. But it all seemed futile. All of it seemed to spur him on because the sick bastard enjoyed the pain. Finally, when he pulled back to tear at my breast with his teeth, I managed to get a kick in that had an effect. There are some places even gods hurt.

It earned me a backhand that made me black out for a couple seconds. Ares rolled off me, then left the bed and stalked across the room, muttering, "Bitch."

I got a good look at his back as he walked away. It shone with sweat and blood. But the scarlet tracks that stretched from shoulder to waist were already healing. In no time at all he'd be back. God only knew how long he could keep this up.

I rolled over and vomited over the side of the bed, expelling everything I had in my body, as if I could vomit his touch away, and still felt sick after there was nothing left.

How long could _I _keep this up?

I curled into the fetal position and forced back sobs. I would not let him see my pain. I was stronger than that. I was the daughter of Batman, Wonder Woman and Superman and he couldn't beat me. But neither could I just could move from the bed to try and escape.

He didn't come back. I had no idea why, and frankly I didn't care. I think I passed out, either from blood loss, or shock, or something. At any rate the pain stopped. I was warm again. I was...cradled like a baby. I cried like one. It wasn't until I was laid on a soft bed that it hit me it was over.

I sobbed more.

It was a long time before I opened my eyes. Before I could bear to.

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**A/N: That was the most horrible thing I've ever done to a character ****even including **_**Memories to a Stranger**_**. :( Review please!**


	20. Chapter Nineteen

**A/N: Thank you for the reviews! And thank you to Daisy Jane, miracle worker that she is :D**

**Chapter Nineteen**

When I woke, numb wasn't the word. I was still crying, and my throat had locked closed, preventing speech. Bruce and Clark were both staring at me with worried expressions – we were in my quarters by this point, with no sign of Booster, for which I was glad. I sat up sharply.

"Diana?"

I didn't bother with looking at either of them. Instead I swung my legs over the edge of the bed and stood and then strode over to the huge battleaxe I kept on the wall. It had been a birthday gift from Orion, and contained various properties, all of which were designed for defending – or harming – new gods like Darkseid. I really hoped it would work on the original gods too. I fully intended to hack every limb from Ares' body, and then enjoy hacking them off again once they grew back. Prometheus' punishment would look like a walk in the park compared to what I'd put him through.

A hand on my arm stopped me as I pulled it down from the wall. Bruce tried to take it from me, and I hung on. "No."

"It happened," Batman stated in his usual flat tone.

"Yes, it happened. And yes, I was forced to watch it. He raped her for hours and in a way it feels worse than actually being raped myself. I love her and I…I couldn't… She's safe now, but I don't know how. Now I'm going to stop it from ever happening."

"Diana, you can't declare war on Olympus. They're your patron gods," Superman said trying to reason with me.

"No. The goddesses protect me. Ares? Ares I intend to castrate," I hissed.

"Clark's right. It could cause a war," Bruce added.

"We're already at war," I snarled. "We were at war the moment he touched her! And I am going to make sure he never can."

Without waiting for them to protest more, I marched toward the door and through the corridors to the transporter room. I input the coordinates for Themyscira myself – like the Batcave and the Fortress of Solitude, they weren't on the central Watchtower database. Clark and Bruce weren't far behind me, and we were all on the pad before the world dissolved in a flurry of white light.

I had altered the coordinates slightly, moving us from the centre of the city where the palace and temples were, to underneath it. To the necropolis and the huge gates of Tartarus. We all stared at it, all thinking the same thing.

If we opened it, would the hoards of demons come pouring out? Did they only lurk close to the doors just when Hades had ordered an attack, or when chaos ruled the underworld? I looked down at the axe in my hands, at the paleness of my knuckles. I didn't care. All of the hoards of hell could come marching out of those gates, and as long as I got to embed this blade into Ares' skull, it didn't matter one iota.

I looked over my left shoulder. "Superman?"

He put his fingers in the crack of the doors, and yanked one of them open. The stone ground loudly in protest, the noise echoing across the cavern. It was a struggle for him, that much was obvious, to hold it open while Bruce and I slipped inside. Once we were in, the doors closed again with a relieved sounding rumble.

The Underworld did not look like it had before, when Shayera and I had been here together to restore Hades to the throne. It was darker, without the fires burning everywhere. There was still the lingering smell of roasting meat, though. It let us know that Tartarus was not far away. Directly before us lay the River Styx. The water was dark grey in colour, and smelt like sewage and bone. Mist clung to the surface, hiding whatever could be under the surface. In the few places it broke, remains of people sighed to the top. There were fingers, skulls and random pieces of bodies that weren't recognisable at all anymore.

And coming out of the mist, the prow of a boat. It was tiny, and sitting low in the water, moving through it with barely a ripple. Paddling it was a skeletal figure in black robes, hood shadowing his face. "Charon."

The boat stopped, and the boatman held his bony hand out. I cursed. I had no money – but Batman's gloved fingers placed two brass pennies into Charon's palm. "Service charge."

They were placed somewhere in the black robes, and then he stretched out his hand again for mine. Swallowing my revulsion, I took it, and stepped down into the boat. Bruce was behind me, but when Clark tried to step down, the ferryman held a forbidding hand up, and shook his head.

"I guess you're on your own from here," he said.

"We'll be fine," I said. "Don't hang around – it could be dangerous."

"Will you-"

"We'll be fine," Bruce cut in.

He nodded, and stepped back. The mist swallowed us quickly, and I lost sight of him. I wondered briefly if he felt hurt by not being allowed to come with us. The future Clark, he would be – but then he knew and loved Elizabeth. My head ached. I had no idea which one he was anymore. I had no idea which one _I _was.

"What's the plan?" Bruce asked.

"We get to Olympus, we demand vengeance," I told him.

"That simple."

"I'll make it that simple," I growled.

Charon kept rowing, his arms moving at a much slower pace than the boat was. We were suddenly coming into the light, too. The mist was clearing, the water growing purer too. We were coming to Olympus. By the time we got close enough that the light could be called sunlight, it was not water we rowed on, but cloud, and up it like a road into the sky.

Then clouds grew pillars. Then there was marble gold and white. Then trees. Finally we came to an archway, ornately carved with the figures of my childhood. Heracles, Jason, Hector and Achilles. They were mirrored on the other side by their foes. To see my mother set with Medusa, with Circe – it made my blood boil all over again.

They would pay. They would all pay for allowing this to happen.

The boat came to a standstill outside these gates, and Batman and I stepped out of it. Charon laughed once behind us; lowly, smugly, and then disappeared. Bruce's hand found mine, and I wasn't sure who was giving who comfort here. I wished he hadn't come with me. I was going to kill Ares; that much was utterly certain in my mind. How Bruce would come to terms with that – I wasn't sure if he had or not. Killing was always something he had refused to deal with.

I wasn't sure how long we walked for before we came to the chamber. But all of them were there. Zeus, Hera, Artemis and Apollo. And, seated between Aphrodite and Athena, Ares. My hand tightened on the hilt of my axe.

I did not bow, and waited for them to speak. "You have no business here, mortal."

"The matter concerns my daughter," Bruce said. "So I'd say I do."

"What _is_ that matter, Diana?" Aphrodite asked.

I pointed the axe at Ares. "I demand my right to vengeance upon the god of war, for something he will do. Unless I prevent him now – as I intend to."

Ares sneered. "My offenses – if such they be – lie against your mother, not you. You have no authority or right to demand anything."

"They lie against my _daughter_!" I yelled.

"If you had any love for your daughter, you would never have entered into this…_relationship_ to begin with!" Apollo spat. "The curse still lies upon you, Princess, as it will on any Amazon who follows your blasphemous example. Because of you, she will always have a life of misery, and if not that, then at least a miserable death!"

* * *

There was only one thing I could say when my senses finally returned. "Thank you," I whispered. I would have shouted it, so much did my nerves trill with gratitude, but my throat was raw with pain. It let me know that it hadn't been a horrible nightmare. When I tried to move, the agonising pain in my muscles reinforced that fact.

"Thank you," I whispered again.

There was no reply, no response of any kind. I didn't bother opening my eyes – half afraid of where I'd find myself and half just too fatigued get them to move. I focused on the voices instead. There were two of them, both male. One definitely familiar and the other…not _un_familiar, but I didn't _know_ the voice. It took me a moment to recognise the first voice. Bruce. _Oh thank God. _

"Thank you."

The second man spoke. He had an odd accent that I couldn't quite place. It reminded me of Alfred Pennyworth. "She wasn't the first he's done this to. And she will not be the last. Such is the way with our kind."

There were heavy footsteps moving away before Bruce spoke again. "That's _it_?" he said, sounding incredulous. "You'll rescue her but still let him carry on?"

"I saved her because she is my kin," was the reply, "and for no other reason."

"Hades-"

"Why should I do more?" 'Hades' asked. "I have gone beyond what I should do for a mortal. If she – or her mother – wishes vengeance, let them seek it. I owe neither of them anything."

Gritting my teeth with the pain that followed, I sat up and pushed back the blanket that covered me. I was in a paper hospital gown, bruises littering every inch of my exposed skin. A curtain separated them from me.

Bruce spoke angrily again. "How dare you-"

"It is the lot of mortals to be the playthings of the gods," Hades said witheringly.

I shoved the curtain back. Hades turned out to be, presumably, another god. He had shoulder length black hair, a black beard, black armour and pitiless black eyes to go with them. He looked at me appraisingly.

"Even been a _plaything_?" I spat. "No, let me guess – you've always been the puppet master. The torturer – the raper?"

He nodded.

"Nothing lasts forever," I breathed. "_Nothing_. I intend to be around when you learn that – but help me now, and maybe I'll decide to remember it on that day. I'm going to castrate Ares with my bare hands if I have to, but it won't make much difference if the fucking thing just grows right back."

More appraisal. "True. And I must say, I like your vicious enthusiasm, my dear."

"I'm sure you can get something out of Ares being torn down a peg or eighty."

"That _is _true." He tapped his chin. "Very well. I will not accompany you in battle, but I will arm you." He reached for his belt and unbuckled the huge sword and scabbard there. "This will do permanent damage to a god. But try not to kill him – Zeus will be very difficult to work with if one of his sons is dead by my blade if not my hand. And Hera can be very shrill about her children, even one as tedious as Ares."

I took it. "No promises."

He inclined his head to me, then Batman, and then vanished in a tornado of light. I dropped the sword with a loud clatter, trembling with fatigue. God, even that brief exchange had taken it out of me. Bruce took my arm, and helped me back to the bed.

"You've been out less than an hour – you need to rest," he told me. "Your…wounds are already less bad than they were a few moments ago." He hesitated. "The doctors have examined you. You were-"

"I know what happened to me, Bruce. I don't need some doctor to tell me. I remember too fucking well."

"You need rest," he said again.

I sat down on the edge of the bed, but shook my head. "I need blood. That bastard-"

"Do you really think you stand a chance against him in this condition?" Bruce asked me bluntly.

I wanted to argue, but was unable to. "No," I admitted.

He handed me some water and two white tablets. I threw them back without asking what they were. Some kind of pain-killer probably. Bruce watched me take them and then nodded approvingly. "I have to go."

"What?"

"I'm sorry, Liz, but I really do have to."

"Bruce, no one's here, but you. Not…not even-"

"He would be here," Bruce said quickly, "so would Diana. But Metropolis is-" he cut off.

"Metropolis is what?"

"You need to stay here," he told me, beginning to turn away.

I grabbed his wrist before he could. "Metropolis is _what_, Bruce?"

He stopped, sighed. I had the feeling that he was comparing me to Diana again. Finally he told me. "Metropolis is under attack. The gods Ares, Deimos, Eris and Phobos have spread chaos; most of the city's burning. Clark has the majority of the League helping him."

"Is it enough?" I demanded.

"Elizabeth-"

I took that as a no. I ripped the saline needle from the back of my hand and threw my legs over the side of the bed. Bruce put his hands on my shoulders. "No way in hell."

"That's exactly what Metropolis will become if I don't go and help!" I yelled. "Look, if it was Gotham, you'd let nothing stop you, right?"

He didn't deny it.

"Metropolis means the exact same to me as Gotham does to you. Let me go, Bruce. I'll have whatever therapy or counselling or crap you want after we've saved my city, okay?"

He looked at me for a moment. "Alright."

"Thank you. Do you have my costume?"

He crossed to a locked medical cabinet and pulled out my folded costume. I took it and then looked into the locker he'd pulled it out of. There was another costume under there. I hobbled over to it and pulled it out. It wasn't the Supergirl one, it was the other one…my…my trinity costume. There wasn't exactly much time for sewing so I tore the cape from my old one and fastened it roughly to the shoulders of the costume Bruce had designed for me, then pulled the curtain across while I got dressed.

"This isn't a good idea," Bruce said from behind it.

"I never said it was a good idea," I said, grimacing as I pulled up the zip on the side. Considering all my bruises I was grateful for the extra skin coverage.

"Elizabeth-"

"I'm going to kill him, you know that don't you?" I asked.

He paused. "Yes."

"And you don't have any problem with it?"

"No," he said flatly.

Now dressed, I pushed back the curtain and picked up the sword Hades had given me. Warmth spread up my arm – a kind of hard, hot strength flooding into my veins. It didn't make me feel clean but it made me feel strong. And at this point and probably from now on, strong was all that counted. I hefted the sword and headed for the door. We were transported down to Metropolis together.

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**A/N: Review please!**


	21. Chapter Twenty

**A/N: Thank you for the reviews! And thank you to Daisy Jane for the amazing job she did on this chapter :D**

**Chapter Twenty**

If I had thought of Gotham as a dump, it was nothing in comparison to what Metropolis looked like now. The whole city was ablaze. Office buildings, homes, City Hall – Ares had spared no one and nothing. The roads had been torn up like so much tissue paper. Bodies lay in piles on the streets. It made me feel sick. He'd raped my body and now he was raping my fucking city as well. Bastard.

The League wasn't hard to spot; the skies were almost full of its members – along with low, heavy storm clouds. I scanned for red and blue, and spotted him over by the _Planet_. He dived down into an apartment building that was on fire; a few seconds later coming back out with three people in his arms.

More red and blue, this time with flashes of gold. Wonder Woman, only she was locked in combat, her blade flashing as she fought against not one, but two foes. I recognised both her opponents with heart-strangling rage.

"Help Dad," I ordered, and then shot into the air before Batman could reply.

I flew as fast as I could up to Diana, but in between her and me were Warhawk and Big Barda engaged in battle against another two I recognized: Phobos and Deimos. They were all fighting on the rooftop of one of the few standing skyscrapers. Barda was holding her own – unsurprising considering her background – but Warhawk was doing less well. He was a hell of a fighter, and in a normal fight he was almost unstoppable – always had been when we sparred at least – but Phobos' weapon was shredding his Nth metal armour. That shouldn't have been happening, I knew that much. Nth metal was resistant to magic, yet there it was, happening.

As badly as I wanted to kill Ares, I couldn't leave an ally in danger without stopping to help. Even as I watched, Phobos slashed downward with his sword – Warhawk's wings were sheared from his armour, and he fell. Superman caught him about fifty feet from the ground.

Dad's gaze met mine, and then flicked to the sword in my hand. I couldn't even muster a reassuring smile. My face was set into a grim mask as I turned away from him. Once this was over, I would talk to him properly. But if I told him now – he'd just go after Ares himself, and probably get killed.

Phobos, now that Warhawk had been dispatched, turned his attention to Barda. It struck me that I had no idea how to use the sword Hades had given me. But that didn't matter. There was fire thundering through my veins and I knew that my expression exactly mirrored by Diana's. At this moment, we weren't just mother and daughter; we were sisters. When Ares had called me an Amazon before, I wasn't. Far from breaking me, all he had done was unlocked it in me. The blade wasn't foreign; it was simply an extension of my _arm_.

When Phobos drew his blade back to attack Barda from behind, I swung from the left. It sunk deep into his arm. With a yelp of pain, he broke off his attack on Barda, and spun to face me. I met his blade when he brought it up to stab at me, knocking it aside and thrusting forward. My sword pierced his stomach. With a shocked, gurgling kind of gasp, his sword fell from nerveless fingers, and his eyes clouded over. I woke him up when I grabbed his hair by the roots. Seeing utter _fear_ in his eyes brought a rush of hot, sick triumph.

I floated upward a few feet, bringing Phobos with me, supported only by his hair. He gasped in pain. I touched my blade lightly to his neck, pulled back, and then swung.

* * *

I opened my eyes with a gasp, feeling incredibly proud of my daughter. Bruce was kneeling next to me, with Athena and Aphrodite just behind him. He touched my face. "Well?"

"He hasn't beaten her," I whispered, tears falling down my face once more. "She's fighting, Bruce. She's fighting."

"Well unless you can get Apollo to change his mind, I don't think she has much chance of winning," he told me lowly.

I nodded, setting my jaw, and stood. Apollo still looked utterly unimpressed. I cleared my throat free of emotion and spoke again. "Elizabeth doesn't exist yet. I can still change her fate, if you let me. All it would take is _one_ alteration from you, and an innocent need not suffer."

He snorted. "It's too late for that, Amazon."

"It is _not_ too late! Elizabeth-"

"Already exists," Aphrodite interrupted gently. Bruce and I both turned to stare, stunned at her. She gestured to my flat stomach. "She already exists, Diana."

"No," I breathed. "How- How can that be?" I was a rather stupid question. I knew perfectly well how it had happened. Because I thought we could have one night of thoughtless passion without consequences. As though anything we ever do _never _has a consequence. Bruce's hand – I hadn't noticed it held mine – tightened. His face was blank with shock. More sobs gathered at the base of my larynx.

"I don't understand. In my visions Elizabeth wasn't conceived until after Bruce and I were married," I whispered, looking at my gods through furious eyes. "What was the point in allowing me to fall pregnant _now_ if these visions are designed to prevent it?"

"The visions are _not_ my doing!" Apollo snapped out.

"They are mine," a soft female voice said from behind us.

We both turned to see her; white-streaked hair, a regal countenance and warm green eyes. She was looking at us with utter compassion in her gaze. Apollo and Artemis stood from their thrones, looking unsure. "Mother?"

"Leto," I breathed.

She nodded. "I am the one sending you these visions, Diana. I knew that my son could not, or would not, rescind his curse. I had hoped that by warning you off a sexual relationship with your chosen mortal, innocent lives could be spared. I have obviously failed, or perhaps I even ensured it would come to pass earlier than it should have."

"But _why_?" I demanded, turning on Apollo again. "Why can't you rescind your curse? I had no idea of it; there are no writings of it, no warnings in the history of my people! How was I to-"

* * *

"Lizzie!"

Dropping Phobos' severed head, I turned and ran into Dad's arms. "Daddy!"

When he hugged tightly back, I was strongly reminded of the fact that not all the wounds Ares had inflicted on me were healed. But the pain wasn't the reason for my tears. Dad pulled back. "Sweetheart, what's the-"

"I'll explain later, Daddy, but for now I have to help Diana. Don't worry about me, there isn't time."

That was true – there wasn't time, but I didn't think that would have stopped him. The building collapsing under our feet stopped him. I let Phobos' body fall with it, scooping up his head as I flew up to where Diana was still fighting in the sky. And she was beginning to get her ass handed to her: cuts and bruises marred her limbs, and there was a nasty looking burn on her shoulder that looked as though it could have been caused by a lightning bolt.

"Diana!"

I came to Eris first, punched her with all of my strength. It sent her crashing into one of the few still-standing buildings. Diana turned to stare at me, amazement in her blue eyes. "Elizabeth! What are you-"

"Take Eris," I yelled.

"But-"

"Go! Ares is mine!"

She hesitated for another few seconds, and then flew towards me, kissed my cheek. "Fight well. He is not your equal, my daughter."

I nodded, and she left – then it was just Ares and me. He laughed. "So, you escaped! I do apologise for leaving you, my dear – duty, as you can see, called."

"I had help," I snarled, tilting my sword. A lightning bolt flashed down, glittering from the blade as it did. It was black with blood.

He obviously recognised it, but it did not seem to bother him. "Even with that toy you will never defeat me. The true Champion could not – what chance do you, half-Amazon weakling, stand?"

In answer, I threw Phobos' head to him. It hit him full in the face, and then dropped into his hands. He took a few seconds to realise just what it was. Then he let out a scream of rage and horror that was the sweetest of music to my ears.

When he attacked, he did so without thought or tactic. I imagine the desire to kill me overwhelmed everything else – I knew exactly how he felt. The strength behind his first blow was massive. It sent me spinning backward, and I barely brought my blade up in time to parry his next. He slashed at my abdomen – I dodged and knocked the hilt of my sword into his face. There was a satisfying crack, and blood began to flow from his nose. He backhanded me. While I was stunned, he grabbed my hair and threw me into the globe of the _Planet_. I bounced off the metal and lay on the roof, prone and apparently defenseless. But I hadn't let go of my sword. Ares plunged down toward me, blade out straight at my chest. I kicked out at the last moment; my feet caught him in the chest and catapulted him over my head. He crashed skull-first though the roof behind me. I flew down through the roof and into the office of the newspaper.

Ares was ready for me though, and my blow was turned aside by a twist of his blade. He drew the fist blood as I stumbled, a shallow, but long cut the width of my back. I used the pain to fuel myself, and the momentum he'd given me to turn and kick him in the chest. It didn't make him back off far, but it gave me the space I needed. Aggressively, I landed a series of blows, jabs one after the other aimed at his sword hand. There was no longer blood in my veins – it was thunder I could hear pounding in my ears.

The tactic paid off – already tired and weakened from his fight with Diana, the god of war was just a fraction too slow to stop my sword taking his hand off at the wrist. When his sword hit the floor of the office, his fingers were still clutching it.

He let out another roar of anger, and moved to punch me with his other hand. I ducked under it, and then slashed upward with my sword. It ripped him in half from the groin upward. It was so quick, so effortless and _elegant _that he even stood for a few seconds, face still transfixed in rage. Then his legs gave way, and his body – skin, organs and bones – split right down the middle, falling apart like a perfectly cracked egg.

I saw his black heart beat twice before it stilled completely.

If I'd ever imagined killing before, I'd imagined that I'd feel guilt, or at least doubt. But there was none of either. There was only simple victory. I tasted blood in my mouth – it could have been honey. Smiling, I turned away from the dead god and floated upward, back to the roof. The storm was already clearing, revealing stars here and there. Relative calm had descended on Metropolis.

"Elizabeth!"

When she landed, Diana hugged me fiercely; whispering in a language I didn't understand – but I knew every word she said to me anyway. It was inexplicable, but I embraced her too, the distance of twenty years evaporating in twenty seconds.

"Eris?"

"Unconscious somewhere down there."

When she let go, there was a touch on my shoulder. I turned to see a concerned expression on Dad's face. "Honey?"

I dropped the sword, suddenly very aware that I was probably smeared in blood – Phobos', if not Ares'. Dad looked at me, taking my face between his hands and then looking down into the office below, where Ares still lay spread-eagled. "Oh Lizzie."

"I had to, Dad. He- I had to."

"But, honey, that's just- That's _not_ how we do things – you know that, Liz, you-"

"She had the right."

Diana was the only one not to jump as Bruce detached himself from the shadows. Dad turned to stare at him. "She had the _right_? Bruce, you- you of all people, are saying committing murder is okay?"

"Homicide is defined as one human killing another," he said flatly. "Elizabeth has just killed a god. Not the same thing."

_Thank you_, I mouthed to him. He nodded once. I suddenly realised I was trembling. "Daddy…can we go home? I'll explain everything, I promise, I just… I want to sleep for about a million years."

"Well…of course, honey. Not sure if home will still be there though," he joked weakly.

He laughed; I cried. Oh God, Ares' gruesome death hadn't erased it. It hadn't taken away what he'd done to me. It hadn't reversed the violation. Would anything? _Ever_? Diana took my hand, looking as though she knew exactly how I felt. "Come. Let's all go home. If your house is destroyed, you're both welcome at the manor."

As we landed at ground level, a scarlet blur skidded to a halt in front of us. "Good news, Supes and Supesette! Your house is still standing!"

"I think we have bigger problems, Flash," Dad said seriously. "Thousands of people are dead – thousands more are probably buried under all this rubble."

"Which is why I've already organised volunteers under the direction of League members to begin clearing away the rubble and take the survivors they do find to the hospitals which haven't been demolished."

"Oh."

With a grin to me, Flash zoomed away. "We should help too," Diana said. Bruce nodded, and the two of them moved off to where cries of trapped people could be heard. Before I made to follow them, Dad pulled me into another hug. "I'm glad you're okay, Lizzie. I think I forgot to tell you that."

I managed a shaky laugh. "You-"

The cries of the trapped suddenly coalesced into one scream. There was someone alive under the rubble, all right. _Eris_.

The goddess burst out faster than I could blink, faster than I could _think_. All I saw was a blade in her hand. A blade that was about to plunge into Dad's unprotected back.

My sword was magical.

Her sword was magical.

Kryptonians were vulnerable against magic.

Reflex saved his life – my reflex. I shoved him to the left as hard as I could, but Eris was moving too fast to stop. And her blade had to go somewhere. It felt very, very cold. Eris lasted only a few seconds before my very alive, wonderfully and completely _alive_ dad smacked her across the city.

A bit too late for me though.

My legs felt shaky, so falling to my knees seemed like a perfectly sensible thing to do. Suddenly surrounded by three parents, I struggled to breathe. My hand came up and touched the hilt sticking out of my chest. All I could feel was a cold wetness, though I knew that logically my blood was supposed to be warm. And then I couldn't even kneel properly, and fell over completely.

It was perfectly clear I was going to die.

And dying hurt. A lot.

More when Dad tried to move me. He didn't get far.

"I'm sorry," I whispered.

Something hot and wet landed on my cheek. It took my pain-filled mind a second to realise he was crying. "No, Lizzie, no. I'm sorry, I'm so sorry, Lizzie-"

I touched his face and left bloody streaks behind. "Don't cry, Daddy, don't..."

He cried anyway. Someone else was crying too. My eyes were sluggish. I turned to look. Diana was on my other side. Tears falling down her cheeks. She had my other hand. I couldn't feel my fingers. I tried moving them. They still worked. Sort of. I squeezed her hand. "It's alright."

"We have to get her to the infirmary," she stammered.

One of them ordered an emergency transport while I looked back at Dad. "It's alright."

My lips were going numb. I didn't think I was breathing. It didn't hurt anymore.

My tired eyes found a blurry shadow. "Bruce..." I had three more words left in me. They couldn't be 'come down here'. But he knew and he knelt then leaned forward. I whispered. "...look...after...them."

When he nodded, I knew it would be all right. I could relax. So I did. I leaned against Daddy, and smiled when everything flooded with light.

* * *

**A/N: I'm sorry. I'm very, very sorry. I'm going into hiding now. But before I go - review please!**


	22. Chapter Twenty One

**A/N: Thank you for the reviews! This is the end of the story - but DaisyJane has already volunteered to write a sequel, for the people who need one! I'm definitely looking forward to reading it myself. **

**Chapter Twenty-One**

"Princess?"

I blinked. I knew that soon I'd be crying. Bruce's concerned eyes met mine. "She's dead," I managed. "Hera, Bruce...she's dead."

He stared. "She can't be."

"I just…I just watched her… She- She did it to save Kal. She's dead." For a moment, I couldn't make myself believe it, despite what I had just seen. My eyes flew around, wildly seeking some kind of anchor, but I found nothing. Without any fear for his identity, Bruce pushed back his cowl, but that didn't help, how could it? I'd just seen those blue eyes go dull with the sheen of death.

He took my hands. "Diana. Diana, look around. Do you remember where you are?"

I nodded.

"Do you remember what we're here to stop?"

More nodding.

"We can still do that, Princess. We can stop what Ares does to her, and we can stop her death."

Yes. Yes we could do that. We could stop it from happening. I could save her. I swallowed, and then focused tear-drenched eyes onto Apollo. My former fury had not worked, but I was no longer above begging for mercy. "Please. Take it away. She is an _innocent_; she does not deserve what will happen to her. Do it and I- I'll do anything you command."

"Will you?" he grunted doubtfully. "In any case, it is not in my power."

"Not in your power?" Bruce repeated. "If you made it, you can take it back! You have the power to destroy lives but you don't have the power to save them?"

"That is correct."

"Then what right do you have to call yourselves _gods_?" he spat.

Ares stood first. "Enough! That you are here at all, mortal, is an offense – I will not stand for this affront any longer!"

He drew his sword, but the blade of my axe was already resting against his neck. He froze, but I was still speaking to Apollo. "If you won't save her, then I'll kill him. I'll save her by plunging Olympus into turmoil if I have to. Do not think for a second that I won't."

"It won't make any difference," Leto said softly. "I am disappointed in you, my son. I had never taken you to be as cruel as others can be."

Apollo remained unmoved. Something unfathomable glowed in his eyes before, with another shake of his head, he transported away in a burst of sunlight.

"Why?" Bruce demanded. "Why wouldn't it make any difference?"

"Because as long as the curse remains, there will always be more ways for her to suffer and to die." At the way Bruce's and my attitudes shifted into despair, Leto stepped closer, her expression imploring. "But what I showed in the visions was still right, Diana. If she is denied the truth of her heritage, then she will be safe from the curse. It is only if she becomes aware-"

"And which half," Diana said in a trembling voice, "which half _exactly_ of our daughter's heritage are we supposed to deny her? Clearly, denying it all is not going to work."

Leto shrugged helplessly. "I… I cannot answer that. Only both of you can decide what will be best for her – and you have the next nine months to do so. Should you choose to follow the course of your visions, rest assured that she will live a very happy twenty years. I will deliver her to her guardian myself."

There was the lightest of touches on my shoulder, and then Olympus was gone, with my quarters on the Watchtower replacing it. I collapsed onto the edge of my bed, touching my stomach and still disbelieving everything that was happening. _What are we going to do?_

It wasn't until Bruce answered me that I realised I'd spoken aloud. "We go back," he said. "We demand that they-"

"What makes you think we'll even be able to _get _back?" I asked wearily. "Charon took us there once, I doubt he'd do it again – and nothing will have changed once we get there."

Silence fell for a while; I didn't need to be a telepath to know that every possible invective was pouring through Bruce's head, but he remained rigidly still. "We have two options," I said finally. "We could declare war on Olympus. We could gather the League and attack."

"Could we win?"

"Not without massive casualties. And my powers would most likely be withdrawn immediately, so I wouldn't be able to fight with any effectiveness. Not that that would stop me trying."

"But if you're killed, then Elizabeth dies with you – it defeats the point entirely."

"Then I think you already know what option two is."

"So that's it?" he demanded, turning on me angrily. "We just _give up_ our daughter without a fight, because some-"

"The why doesn't matter," I replied. "_If_ we do, then she'll be safe. And if she's safe, then we've done all we could as her parents. I don't want this either, Bruce, do you imagine I do?"

His shoulders fell. Shaking his head, he pulled me into an embrace. For a moment, I swore I could hear the heartbeat that wasn't there yet. That precious, third sound. I thought of that first vision, the dream that had started all of this. "We'll keep her safe, won't we, Bruce?"

He stroked my hair softly down my back. His voice was hoarse as he whispered back, "From everything."

He kissed me like he was saying goodbye, long and soft. "When will you leave?"

"Leave?" Now I was confused.

"Diana, I can't raise her. I don't have anything near your powers – Clark does, and she still figured that out. You have to. Take her to Themyscira, where she'll be safe. Where you both will be."

"And leave you here?" I asked. "No. I can't abandon you and the League and everything else. I won't. Besides, what do I tell her when she asks about her father, or something else that doesn't add up and she figures it all out? We will be back to another tragedy."

"But it's still the only safe place for her that I can think of, Princess."

"I know. Which is why we need to speak to my mother."

It was a brilliantly simple plan. One that had been used a hundred million times in the past. My mother, once the situation had been explained to her, did not offer judgment for once. She know the reality of the situation and what little choice we had. She only looked long and hard at the despair on my face. "Diana…are you certain you can do this?"

"I have to."

"That is not what I asked."

I nodded slowly. "I don't want…but if it's what saves her life and keeps her safe and happy, then I'll happily be her sister. I don't have to be her mother."

Hippolyta only kissed us both, and agreed to raise our daughter as her own, and to never tell her the truth.

* * *

She was late.

Diana's due date came and went. One day, two days, ten days…still we waited. A kind of irrational, insane hope began to grow in me that she'd stay pregnant forever, that our little girl would stay in her mother's womb, warm and safe and protected. Where she could stay ours.

She was strong, we knew that much; I'd lie awake with my arms around both of them and feel Elizabeth's kicks against my hand. Sometimes Diana would grimace when she took a kidney shot. Any time she moved and we both felt it, the automatic reaction was to beam with pride—but then it always left a bigger hole once it had faded. I kept wondering how the hell either of us would survive once she was gone completely. I had no idea what she looked like, I had no idea how she would feel in my arms, and I already loved her unconditionally. It filled me up and made my chest hurt with it. Diana was exactly the same, only the hole Elizabeth would leave for her was a physical one as well as emotional. Would we just feel empty when she was gone? Or would it burn?

We had married in a quiet ceremony at Wayne Manor two weeks after Hippolyta agreed to raise our daughter as her own. It had taken me that long to convince Diana to marry me. First we argued.

"Bruce I can't burden you anymore with this stupid curse. If I had known I would never have…" she choked.

"Never have what Diana? Never have loved me? We both know that's a lie. I tried desperately not to love you and it didn't work."

"But you can still find another woman who could give you everything. Being with me means no more children of your own that you can raise and love. Let's face it, we didn't exactly plan to have Elizabeth, what if we mess up again?" she'd questioned.

"I would do what I had to do to make sure that never happened," I'd replied in a firm voice.

She'd stared at me blankly for a moment until what I meant sunk in. "Oh no Bruce, you are too young to do that and I would never ask you to-"

"You wouldn't have to," I replied.

"No, I can't do this to you. We will have Elizabeth, give her to my mother and go our separate ways. That is final!" she yelled before leaving the room.

I knew, after my experiences with Andrea, Selina and Talia, that I would never love and trust another woman as completely as I did Diana. I went to the doctor the next and made it impossible for me to have children with anyone. Diana had been furious.

"_Why_?" she'd screamed

"Because I can't lose you too," I'd yelled back.

In that moment she seemed to get it. She realized how much she meant me and agreed to be my wife.

So with just Lois and Clark as witnesses and Alfred and Hippolyta as the parents of the bride and groom, a justice of the peace married Bruce Wayne and Diana Troy.

Clark, after hearing the entire story about the curse and Elizabeth from Diana and myself, decided to confess his secret and all his feelings to Lois to which she replied, "It's about damn time, Smallville," before kissing him senseless.

As the months passed we settled into married life. Diana became Diana Wayne fulltime as Wonder Woman went on an off-world mission for a year. Only the founding members were privy to the truth – less people who knew the safer Elizabeth would be. Leslie became Diana's doctor and Alfred remained quiet about the pregnancy or the child we weren't going to come home with. He hadn't created a nursery, and he hadn't brought toys, clothes—he'd just closed off. He kept slipping though. There was a bedroom near ours that hadn't been used in twenty years; he took all the white sheets from the furniture, cleaned it, and opened the French windows to air the room. Inexplicably three days later, the doors were closed and locked. Plastic caps began appearing on the electric sockets, and then they were taken off. He moved the sharpest kitchen tools from the bottom cupboards so they were out of reach of little hands then he moved them back. We were all going to be in mourning.

Arrangements had already been made for a story of a stillbirth for the press and Leslie would make and sign the death certificate. There would be an empty grave next to my parents in Westgate Cemetery afterwards. It wouldn't be a total lie—Elizabeth Wayne would never exist. Diana and I had decided not to name our daughter, to leave that to her grandmother and the other Amazons. It was better for her that way.

Twelve days after the due date, Diana went into labour. I knew as soon as the first contractions began, because tears immediately began falling silently down Diana's face. Her arms curled around the bump and she curled up on the couch, wrapping her limbs around herself as though she'd trap the baby inside her.

I moved over to her and she buried her head against my shoulder. "It's okay," I whispered. "We still have a little time-"

"Time?" she choked out. "No, Bruce. We're out of time."

She was right—everything moved horrifically fast. Some women can be in labour for forty-eight hours or more. Eight hours after Diana had her first contractions, Leslie was cruelly telling her she was ten centimetres dilated and that she was ready to start pushing.

Diana refused.

For over twenty minutes, she refused and fought the overwhelming urge to do what her body wanted and push. I saw the Leslie and J'onn exchange increasingly worried glances as they began to look over to where the sedatives were. Soon, the baby would run out of oxygen – but they couldn't force _Wonder Woman_ to push. If they had to, they'd knock her out and J'onn would remove the baby.

I let go of her hand and took her face instead. "Diana, this is to save her life. If you don't push – she'll die anyway, Princess."

Not taking her eyes from mine, Diana did as I asked. It still wasn't easy, and it still obviously cost her more strength than even she knew she had. But half an hour later, our baby girl was born. As soon as her wailing cries began, Diana's stopped. She closed her eyes and collapsed back onto the pillows, not once looking at the child to see if she was all right or even asking it. She only said one thing.

"Call my mother."

I had had a plan in place for eight and a half months. That I wasn't going to hold or touch the baby. That I wasn't going to allow any kind of attachment to be made, any acknowledgment of her being mine. But I still held my arms out to Leslie once the cord had been cut. I still settled the warm weight of her against my body and tried to shush her crying. I still marveled at how utterly and completely perfect she was. Every part of her was beautiful. My little girl.

"Bruce," Diana said waveringly. "Call…my mother."

We'd gone over the plan a million times, knew that there was no alternative, knew that what we had, we had to stick to. But she wasn't an idea now, she was here and _real_. Diana and I locked eyes, and she shook her head.

Cradling the baby in the crook of one arm I looked at J'onn. He exited the birthing room we had created at the Manor presumably to contact and transport Queen Hippolyta here. The tiny part of my brain still working with logic as fuel wanted to her come quickly, insisting that it would hurt less if it was ripping a band-aid off. The rest of me knew – this wound would never stop bleeding. So what harm could another hour with my daughter do?

Hippolyta took ten minutes to reach the birthing room. She went straight to Diana, smoothing hair back from her sweaty face and whispering in Themysciran. Diana didn't move or speak, just wept silently. Then she faced me. The impulse to just bolt rose up sharply, but my feet were rooted to the floor.

"So this is my granddaughter. She is beautiful." She stretched her hands out. "May I?"

Exactly what force was controlling my body, I had no idea. I pressed a last kiss to her forehead and then forced myself to let go once Hippolyta took her.

"We will protect her," the Queen promised. "She will my daughter and another princess to the Amazons."

Diana seemed just as unable to look at the baby, as I was to look away from her, and only nodded. The tears hadn't stopped. "I know," she whispered. "What will you call her?"

"But she's- She is your child, Diana, surely-"

"No," I said quickly, more harshly than I meant to. "No. She is no longer ours, we- we can't."

Hippolyta looked down at her granddaughter again. "Then…Donna, I think."

The baby gurgled. _Suits__ her_.

"And-" My voice broke. It was hard to force the words out. "Love her. Just…love her."

Hippolyta smiled sadly, her own blue eyes full of tears. Then she left, and I knew that that was going to be the last time I ever saw my daughter. I could never go to Themyscira and our daughter would never leave there. She was Diana's sister now, a true Amazon. The moment the door shut behind her, Diana folded. Her sobs bounced futilely from the walls. When I went to her, she kissed me and kissed the tears I hadn't realized I'd been crying. "I love you."

"I love you too." My voice was tiny. "We had to do this, didn't we?"

She nodded, but couldn't speak. The answer came from Alfred. "Yes," he said solemnly. "Good parents do what is best for their child even if it costs them their own personal joy. You are good parents."

Diana shuddered, then lay her head on my shoulder. I wished I could agree.

**The End**


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